WASHINGTON: On Wednesday, a regional airplane operated by American Airlines collided with a US Army Black Hawk chopper, crashing into the icy Potomac River close to Reagan National Airport, leaving no survivors.
According to US officials, the helicopter was transporting three soldiers on a training mission, but American Airlines reported that the aircraft had 60 passengers and four crew members.
Since November 2001, when an American Airlines plane crashed after taking off from JFK International Airport in New York, killing all 260 persons on board and five on the ground, this was the deadliest US aviation accident.
The majority of the collision victims’ bodies have been found, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin said Reuters.
The airplane carried ice skaters, coaches, and family members returning from competitions in Wichita, Kansas, including former world champions Vadim Naumov and Yevgenia Shishkova, who were born in Russia.
The passenger jet was on its way to land at Reagan when it collided in midair.
The helicopter crew was aware of the plane’s presence, according to radio transmissions.
According to US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, there had been no communication breakdown and the aircraft and helicopter had been operating according to normal flight patterns.
One of the two data recorders, also known as the “black boxes,” was retrieved from the aircraft by a dive crew, according to CBS News.
The US capital region, which is home to three commercial airports and numerous significant military installations, has often congested airspace. Officials have expressed concern over packed runways at Reagan National Airport, which is situated directly across the river from Washington.
A near-collision in May 2024 is one of several near-miss situations that have raised concerns.
In recent years, safety concerns have also been sparked by the US’s lack of air traffic controllers.
Despite acknowledging that the cause of the disaster was still unknown, President Donald Trump had some “very strong opinions and ideas” about it.
Without providing any evidence, he accused his predecessor, Joe Biden, of decreasing air traffic controller standards and blamed federal diversity efforts for the situation.
He said, “It just could have been,” when asked if diversity hiring was the reason behind the crash. Trump announced on Thursday that he had named a former senior aviation official as the interim head of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), shortly after the disaster.
Former National Business Aviation Association chief operating officer Chris Rocheleau, a veteran of the US Air Force, spent more than 20 years with the FAA.
When Trump took office on January 20, Mike Whitaker, who had been unanimously confirmed as the FAA administrator in October 2023, resigned.
Professional judgment
Trump’s comments stood in stark contrast to those of other officials who stated that there was no immediate explanation for the tragedy.
The last attempts to communicate with the helicopter, call sign PAT25, prior to its collision with the jet seem to have been captured on air traffic control recordings.
Are you able to spot a CRJ, Pat25? According to a recording on liveatc.net, at 0147 GMT on Wednesday, an air traffic controller states, “PAT25, pass behind the CRJ.”
A few seconds later, a different plane contacts air traffic control, presumably in reference to the crash, asking, “Tower, did you see that?”
After then, flights going to runway 33 are rerouted by an air traffic controller to circle.
Ian Petchenik of Flightradar24 reports that the incident happened just seconds before landing, at a height of about 300 feet (90 meters).
The river’s edge is where the runway threshold is located.
He told WUSA-TV in Washington, DC, that the Kansas flight was prepared to land.
TCAS (Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System), which is installed in commercial aircraft like the one in question, is intended to notify pilots of other aircraft in the vicinity and provide them last-minute collision avoidance instructions.
The 12th Aviation Battalion, headquartered in Virginia’s Fort Belvoir, was the owner of the aircraft.
Senior government officials may be transported by this unit, which is in charge of helicopter operations in the US capital region.
The Black Hawk looks to have had an elevation problem, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters at the White House, adding that Army inspectors were investigating the situation on the ground.
In a previous remark, Hegseth stated, “It was a fairly experienced crew and it was doing a required annual night evaluation.”