I had to wait several days before even sitting down to think about writing about the crash of American Eagle flight 5342 operated by PSA Airlines. The initial shock gave way to anger as the government put forth one of the most absurd responses to an airline accident I’ve ever seen. And now, it’s just a swirling mix of sadness and fear for what the future may bring after an accident that by its very nature of having happened in Washington, DC is bound to be driven by political winds instead of sanity.
We all know the basics of what happened by now. It was just before 9pm Eastern Time on January 29 when American Eagle 5342 — a CRJ-700 coming from Wichita, operated by American’s wholly-owned subsidiary PSA — was on final approach into Washington/National airport (DCA) . It was originally planning to land on runway 1, but a very standard request to have the airplane circle to land on runway 33 was given. The pilots accepted.
At the same time, a Black Hawk helicopter was on a training mission. It was heading south, flying a visual approach toward DCA and was supposed to stay under 200 feet. The controller asked the helicopter to confirm that it had the PSA aircraft in sight, and that was indeed confirmed. Moments later, the helicopter ran right into the CRJ at what appears to be an altitude slightly above 200 feet. Both aircraft plunged into the Potomac River, and all onboard were lost. That includes 60 passengers, 2 pilots, and 2 flight attendants on the CRJ-700 along with 3 crew on the Black Hawk.
That evening created a mix of awful emotions in me. There was just the pure shock of the first US airline hull loss resulting in fatalities since 2009 when the Colgan Q400 went down in Buffalo. There was also an eerie sense of familiarity. I went to George Washington University, and I spent plenty of time at Gravelly Point watching airplanes. I volunteered for Travelers Aid in the airport itself. It hits different when you can picture exactly what happened and where.
And then there was the strange historical coincidence that this was a mid-air collision operated by a PSA T-tail. Of course, this is a different PSA than the one that had a 727 collide with a Cessna 172 when they lost visual separation, but that accident — which remains the worst in California history — still looms large even nearly 50 years later. The reminder just added to that emotional stew.
Adding to the mix of feelings was a strange one I did not expect — positivity. How so? Well, American did a great job of communicating during the aftermath. American owns PSA outright, and it treated this as its own. There was no deferring media to talk to someone at the subsidiary. I had a statement from the airline in my inbox very early on.
It wasn’t much later that evening when CEO Robert Isom put out a near perfect video. As I said over on Bluesky at the time, this was a good message that was informative, timely, and struck the right tone.
Robert looked and sounded distraught, and you know what? I have no doubt he was. Airline comms are so much better when they don’t try to polish things. Further updates continued to be posted and linked from the airline’s homepage.
This positive feeling was fleeting, of course, in the face of such tragedy, but it was completely extinguished in the hours to come, starting with the absolute disaster of a press conference hosted by President Trump the following morning. I expect speculation from social media and elsewhere, but I do not expect it to come from the President of the United States. Well, I mean, I do expect that now, but it’s not something I expect from the office of the President.
Buried under the slurs against DEI, President Obama, President Biden, and Secretary Buttiegeg was a grave concern about air traffic control staffing. This is and has been an issue for ages, but there is nothing to suggest that it contributed to the crash. Still, because it had been put out there, now media outlets started cranking out stories about how the tower was understaffed. This takes away from the important work that needs to be done in relation to this accident itself.
Further taking away from that important work is the parade of ass-kissing that now seems to be required. It wasn’t surprising to see praise for President Trump flow from Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Vice President JD Vance. But this brutal statement pushed out by American CEO Robert Isom shows how deep this goes.
We are all hurting as we continue to grieve the loss of our passengers and team members. I thank President Trump for his leadership on aviation safety. I applaud him, Secretary Duffy and the Administration for taking quick and decisive action today to restrict helicopter activity around DCA. In the days ahead, we will work tirelessly with the Administration and leaders in Congress to make our aviation system even safer, including by increasing investments in infrastructure, technology and personnel.
This is distracting at best. Now to be fair, the FAA’s decision to limit helicopter traffic around DCA is helpful. It’s also a sensible change despite not knowing what actually happened yet. This is a bandage, but it has an immediate impact. My worry is that we will quickly move beyond sensible measures and into something far worse thanks to political pressures.
Besides the understaffing in the air traffic control tower, I’ve seen accusations that the last minute change to have the PSA flight use runway 33 was a real problem. But again, there is no reason based on anything factual to suggest that these were issues that led to the accident. But even those who may be on the right path and blame the helicopter pilot for causing this disaster can’t know what led to this tragedy.
We know that the helicopter said it had the traffic in sight. Did it have the wrong traffic? Did it get distracted and the helicopter went off course? Was there a mechanical issue that led to the possible climb in altitude that has been reported? We have no idea. You can’t regulate until you know not just what happened but also WHY it happened.
I’m even more concerned about speculation than normal since DCA was involved. This is an airport that probably wouldn’t be open or at least wouldn’t be nearly as crowded if it wasn’t so close to the Capitol. All those Congresspeople care about is being able to fly home to their districts as quickly as possible and getting re-elected. The thought of going to Dulles… how dare you even say it!
That means that incentives are not aligned here. If an action to reduce capacity at the airport by, say, limiting the runways available for landing, were the right thing to do, it probably wouldn’t happen because it would hurt Congress individually and collectively. At the same time, all politicians want to look like they’re doing something to fix what broke. This swirling cocktail of terrible means that it’s entirely possible we could end up with bad legislation that has nothing to do with what actually happened. (See The 1,500-hour rule is ridiculous to learn how legislation can go so wrong when facts are ignored.)
It’s all just so awful, but as always, we will learn in the long run how to prevent this from happening again. For now, we should just patiently wait, but it seems like that’s now impossible. So I find myself just bracing for there not to be too much damage done before we know what exactly went wrong here.
75 comments on “The Crash of American Eagle 5342 is a Tragedy That Shouldn’t Keep Getting Worse… but Might”
I agree 100%. What DJT did was reprehensible and the constant ass kissing is disturbing.
I agree with the sentiment in the story and the comments such as Johnny Jet’s. A sad day for all sorts of reasons.
Same.
The movie Idiocracy was meant to be satirical comedy, not real life!
America is done for. This is just a taste of what is to come.
” It hits different when you can picture exactly what happened and where.”
Well described. I had this awful numbness that night and the next morning for the same reason, understanding exactly where the tragedy occurred, understanding a SAR on the Potomac (rescued once myself not too far away, and having someone I knew drown in the river just southwest of runway 1) and understanding the airspace with the approach to 33 sweeping low across the river. No desire to make the tragedy about yourself but being in the industry and having that history of a connection you just feel… different. Paralyzed.
At least until the trolls showed up on TV the next day. Incoming on this thread surely… should at least out those amongst us.
Fwiw I know a couple of guys with Intellectual Disabilities who work at the FAA, both have been working there for 15+ years (one since the 90s), neither work anywhere near an ATC tower… but if we’re going to blame them for an airline crash, then I’ll credit them with 15 years of unprecedented safety in airtravel while they worked there…
Cranky, while we are discussing horrible things done by horrible leaders can you have a blog post on how the potential upcoming trade war will affect air travel?
Mike – I can’t say I really know just yet. There are so many potential loopholes in the tariff rules that it’s hard to say what the impact will be. It won’t be good though.
Many countries may restrict access to Americans especially if they don’t have proper vaccinations knowing RFK’s views on the matter. I can’t say I would blame them if any country did so.
I appreciate the comment section of this blog and how respectful most people are. While it is unfortunately done by politicians of all sides after high profile losses of life, I think that (regardless of who does it, and regardless of one’s own politicial preferences/allegiances) most of of the good people here would agree that it is in… less than ideal taste… to immediately politicize a tragedy by fingerpointing and scapegoating while the bodies are still warm and before the facts are known. Beyond that, I suggest that we try to avoid left/right politics here and leave them for other forums.
I agree that given the airspace restrictions and government helicopter traffic, there should be some VERY serious thought given to closing DCA (whether entirely or just to commercial airline traffic), or at the very least placing significant limits on its operations . However, I also agree that because of the “convenience factor” to Congresspeople and their lobbyists, that’s basically a non-starter, as Cranky pointed out.
Everything I have seen suggests that there was no malice or intentional act that caused the midair collision itself. It’s easy to Monday morning quarterback after tragedies, and it’s important to identify gaps & make improvements, but it seems like both ATC & pilots did reasonably well. I would even include the pilots of the helicopter in question; given the light pollution, congested airspace, and relative angles, in my opinion it is completely understandable if (as some are speculating) it is true that those pilots mistook another aircraft for the one they were watching for. Stories abound of highly trained Air Force pilots being so confused by light pollution that they attempt to fly formation with the planet Venus.
Given the circumstances and the HUGE amount of helicopter traffic in the area around DCA, as a nation we’re fortunate that events like this do not occur more often, both at DCA and at other airports. Without intending to diminish the tragedy in question (every death is a tragedy to those impacted), it really is amazing that this is the first time in FIFTEEN YEARS that there has been a commercial airline hull loss in the US resulting in fatalities. Let us not forget that it was only a generation ago (90s/early 2000s) that there were often multiple air crashes per year in the US with fatalities. For context (again without trying to diminish this tragedy or those impacted by it), a planeload of people in the US die from car accidents EACH DAY (120 per day, over 42,000 per year).
My heart goes out not only to the victims and their families, but also to the pilots, ATC, and first responders who witnessed and were involved in the tragedy and immediate response to it. I pray that everyone gets the help & support (especially mental health & grief support) they need to deal with what happened.
I respectfully disagree Kilroy… i do not believe we are in an era where we can separate politics from the hobbies, trades, and commercial activities in which we engage, as there are people hoping to use that disengagement to do more harm…
In this instance there was no FAA head, Which absolutely hampered an initial coordinated message and response, and there was no FAA head solely because of politics. It’s inseparable
Perhaps I should have been more clear. I agree that politics are intertwined in most things and had an effect on this. What I meant was that I don’t like to see the extreme & simplistic drum-beating partisanship & name-calling (from either side), such as “X politician/cause good, Y politician/cause bad”.
I think it’s reasonable to argue (as you do) that there was no FAA head due largely to politics and that the lack of an FAA head hampered an initial coordinated message & response.
However, when someone (again, from either side) tries to argue or speculate ***without a reasonably solid factual basis*** that the incident would have been 100% avoided if X policy from other side they disagree with had not been in place, or immediately tries to use the loss of life to make a non sequitur attack condemning others they don’t like… That I don’t like to see, even if it is “politics as usual”, and I lose respect for people who behave like that.
Killroy is normally right in these situations, but here Mike is correct as we are watching “Idiocracy” in real time & this is an unfortunate outcome of it.
Followed in rapid succession by Musk taking control of the U.S. payment system (which includes SS). Fast sinking into the slime. Facts be damned. we got the President we voted for. Wonder how long that will take to sink in.
I sure as *bleep* didn’t vote for him.
Cranky, thank you for your anger. There isn’t enough of that right now.
A few years ago I was at TUS waiting for my flight and observing fighter planes flying much faster than commercial aircraft doing touch and go landings, two at the same time next to each other on the same runway like it was some kinda air show between commercial takeoffs and landings. It seemed very dangerous to me and made me wonder how it could be permissible to conduct military and commercial operations not only in the same vicinity, but in the case of TUS at the same airport. Does anybody have an answer for that?
Patrick – It’s pretty common. Some places like Tucson and Albuquerque are joint airports/air bases. And even in my backyard in Long Beach there are semi-regular training flights of fighter aircraft coming in and out of the airport. Basically, the military can do whatever it wants but it is subject to ATC, so they just have to find the right way to operate safely.
Not just a US phenomenon. Newcastle airport in Australia is also Williamtown RAAF base and ATC is managed by defence personnel. Its quite something taxiiing for takehoff behind an F18 and hearing it go to full military power close by is something else. Provided everyone keeps sensible procedures its fine.
The response to this event is horrifying to me.
Reality: a helicopter pilot made a mistake, crashed into a landing plane, and killed 67 people.
Fantasy: somehow a bunch of nonwhite people in the ATC tower made an unsafe environment and led to the crash.
And American’s CEO bought into that? Jesus, people, are we really at the stage where companies are terrified to criticize the Boss for fear of retaliation? Is this what you guys really wanted to see when you voted for him?
I will leave it alone, and avoid getting any more political. But you guys, I have flown myself, not just as passenger, but as a private pilot. There was nothing out of the ordinary or wrong about what the ATC did. NOTHING. They properly alerted both planes, and they got the proper responses. That happens all the time – you get a call from the ATC, helicopter traffic passing to your left and below, notify when you have visually. Then you respond, “traffic in sight”, and the ATC figures you are good to go.
The helicopter pilot said he saw the American plane. What else was ATC supposed to do?
I believe that the chopper actually saw a different plane, or other lights, and never saw the PSA jet. Now how the chopper got to the wrong altitude is something we need to look at, whether it was a faulty gauge or pilot error. But what this was not was anything to do with ATC. And it is disgusting that the President of the United States used the deaths of 67 people to try to make political points about his predecessor.
And it’s even worse that a CEO enabled it.
“Reality: a helicopter pilot made a mistake, crashed into a landing plane, and killed 67 people.”
“Fantasy: somehow a bunch of nonwhite people in the ATC tower made an unsafe environment and led to the crash.
And American’s CEO bought into that? Jesus, people, are we really at the stage where companies are terrified to criticize the Boss for fear of retaliation? Is this what you guys really wanted to see when you voted for him?”
Short answer yes. You want your tax break & become an oligarch? Then you do what I tell you or we will have you investigated. That is the heart of it.
Regardless of the tone that some may use to interpret how someone else spoke about the tragedy, there are several realities that have quickly been established in the wake of the DCA crash that will have significant impacts on military and commercial aviation:
1. The FAA, not the DoD, has at least temporarily banned the high volume helicopter traffic that operated very close to DCA
2. DCA is now operating almost entirely as a single runway airport which has led to near continuous ground delay programs at DCA since the day of the accident.
The implications of the above are clear.
Even given that DC is a high-security location that needs to be protected, the military’s use of helicopter routes around DCA was way in excess of necessary. Add in that different processes (VFR vs IFR), communications, and technology was used by military and civilian aviation around DCA and the accident was avoidable and the gaps should have been fixed a long time ago.
There have been calls for DCA’s air traffic capacity to be cut even as new exemption routes were just added. AA at DCA not only uses a higher percentage of regional jets at DCA than at just about any other US airline hub but there was a significant amount of connecting traffic that was flowing over DCA. Given the scarce nature of space at DCA, connecting traffic needs to be moved away from DCA and the increased ATC delays – which are not likely to go away – will likely force AA to reduce its use of DCA as a connecting point.
While talk of reducing the number of flights has not happened yet, they inevitably will if only because of operational integrity. Regional jet flights, esp. those that carry high percentages of connections – at least relative to other flights – will likely be the first to be reduced – and that will impact AA far more than other airlines.
> There have been calls for DCA’s air traffic capacity to be cut even as new exemption routes were just added.
I think there is no evidence that the volume of traffic had anything to do with this accident. The issue is that the helicopter flew into an aircraft on a completely standard approach to the airport, not that there was too much traffic.
Why the helicopter did that is up to the NTSB to determine, and not having helicopters fly that route unless and until there’s a very clear answer to that question and a mitigation we can all be highly confident in.
as someone below said, it isn’t clear that any volume of traffic was the issue but rather that the two aircraft involved were in the wrong places relative to each other.
However, some of the procedures that were allowed involved low margins of error with very small amounts of separation – and part of the reason was because no one wanted to put out the “no vacancy” sign.
Yes, the NTSB needs to rule but the whole tone of this article is that someone(s) was/were right and others were not. It is apparent, even without knowing the full cause of this accident, that there were risks being taken in DCA airspace that were not being taken elsewhere.
The NTSB will rule but it is clear that midair collisions are extraordinarily rare and even rarer between civilian and military aircraft; the response will be to create margins of error that had been eroded and not to totally throw one side out for the benefit of the other or vice versa (military vs. commercial)
btw. DCA consistently has been under ATC delay programs win an arrival rate of 26 which is in excess of the number of flights at many hours of the day. If the same standards are now applied on a consistent basis, some flights will have to be removed or will be chronically late. I suspect that the outcome will be fewer commercial and military flights.
I live in DC, and have been watching and reading the coverage from the beginning. And while there is plenty of ongoing criticism about the number of helicopters in the DCA airspace, it feels like something important is being overlooked.
Those helicopters MUST BE THERE. They are military helicopters that protect and provide security for the Capitol, White House and the entire federal district, as well as the Pentagon. Commercial helicopters, including television stations and traffic reporters, are not allowed anywhere near government buildings or DCA. (The boundary line might actually be the Capital Beltway, but don’t quote me on that.)
People who complain the helicopter involved was on a training flight seem to forget that training flights are necessary to educate new pilots and to keep veteran pilots sharp. That includes flights at night.
Yes, there should probably be better curbs on who can fly where. And commercial air traffic at DCA is far more than it should be or was ever intended. And, while Dulles might seem to be in the boonies, it’s no further removed from the city center than IAH is in Houston, or DFW in Dallas. And Dulles has a Metro line now.
BWI is actually a very reasonable alternative that people like to ignore. But it’s no further out than Dulles, is very accessible, and should be considered more than it is. It also has an Amtrak station at the airport, making it a fast ride from DC’s Union Station.
I agree politicians who want airplanes at their front door have created the DCA problem. But as it’s all sorted out, I hope smart people (if any remain) will realize the military helicopters around DCA are a priority, and not a problem.
I agree. Military MUST stay: it’s the airport that must close. The fact that it’s still there shows the worst side of American politics.
Eh, I haven’t seen strong evidence that the military helicopters actually need to fly near the final approach flight paths. It’s not that big of a detour for them to route a bit further away from the airport, which would guarantee much greater vertical separation.
I am sorry Michael, the overabundance of helicopters IS the problem. They often fly in a manner that is not conducive to safety.
Why do they fly VFR, while commercial operate VFR?
Why do they operate on channels that commercial pilots do not hear?
Why are there separate controllers for commercial and military?
And why was only one controller handling both at the time of collision?
Helicopters may be important, but for the most part they are taxis for VIP’s and spend day and night making life unbearable for commercial pilots?
Whether or not there is too much commercial traffic, seems to be an on-going issue for the for politicians who are too self important to use Dulles or BWI.
https://MaltabyZelt.home.blog/
This is the President people voted for.They decided “mean tweets” were worth it.
I mean someone had to do something about egg and gasoline prices…
/s
Good Luck America.
100% Agree. I have a personal connection to1978, my Dad was to be on that flight. My Mom thought he was dead, and then we walk through the door at dinner time, he took an earlier flight. No cell phones or calling cards in those days. This accident put a chill through my soul, something our current president (note the small p) doesn’t have.
My God provide peace and rest for the victims and their families souls. God please the positive and support from American and it’s teams. And thanks to the many positive comments on this site, unlike some others.
Good piece and I agree with just about every word of it.
One additional detail to point out: I believe the HELO confirmed the Visual Separation clearance twice. Once about 1-2 minutes before the collision and again about 10 seconds before. Problem is that most people (including the President, apparently) are listening to the short version of the ATC tape so they’re only hearing the 2nd confirmation, which would have come far too late if it had been the only one. Seems relevant because the twice-confirmed clearance might bolster the case for what seems to be the most likely primary cause, [SPECULATION ALERT] that the HELO was seeing-and-avoiding the wrong airplane.
The fact that the helicopter pilot made the critical fatal error doesn’t necessarily mean that ATC did the best job possible. The helicopter was approved for a flight path that required perfect execution of a task that is known to be error prone (correctly identifying the aircraft to maintain visual separation). ATC also did not intervene when the helicopter deviated significantly from its assigned flight path. It’s completely plausible that a controller with more available attention (e.g. if there were 2 controllers in the tower) would have noticed and corrected this.
As with most disasters, multiple things had to go wrong for the catastrophic result. The helicopter pilots definitely failed here, but the system is intended to have enough redundancy for a single pilot error not to be fatal.
I strongly disagree, Alex.
The controller clearly identified both aircraft seconds before the crash. The controller clearly instructed the helicopter on what to do and where to be.
The helicopter responded in the affirmative, that he had the other aircraft in sight. 15 seconds later she hit it.
There is not an ATC unit in the country that would have stopped this incident. The controller addressed the issue, and at some pilots have to actually fly.
Let that sink in was a total of 15 seconds between the time the chopper said they saw the other plane and impact.
There were many failures here, the primary one being allowing an unsafe situation to unfold with having these planes in close proximity and relying upon visual identification in a cluttered environment at night.
But that isn’t a staffing issue, it’s a philosophical one.
So many are trying to defend Trump when it’s not defensible.
Cranky another interesting aspect of this terrible accident is what it tells us about the the potentially coming Urban Air Mobility revolution. Most folks looking at that space seem to agree that one of the early use cases that makes the most sense is connecting urban centers with outlying airports for high yield customers where time is money.
This means that many, if not all, the UAM operator’s out there, Joby, Archer, etc are looking to replicate is aspects the DCA terminal area at many major US airports with a much higher concentration of VTOL aircraft operating to/from those airports in addition to the existing approach/departure streams of airliners. Other than Wisk; they all anticipate single pilot operations initially. I expect they will argue that they have higher levels of automation and sense & avoid technology than a UH-60M; but I think there are difficult questions this accident is going to expose about potential new risks these operations will introduce when done at high frequency. Given the staffing shortage already extant in the FAA, I don’t see how you can add a local control position to all those airports just to manage the UAM traffic (I believe DCA has a dedicated helicopter position when all 4 local controller positions are being individually staffed)
I think this is particular tough problem, because there are some interesting dynamics between the various Silicon Valley backers of UAM and other Silicon Valley types who seem to have the ear of the administration. I would imagine that will just add to the mess.
The UAM point is an interesting one. If memory serves, back in the day (1970s?) there were regularly scheduled commercial helicopter flights from Manhattan to the NYC airports that anyone could buy tickets on. Obviously the airspace was less congested then, but it was a somewhat similar concept to what you describe, and the challenges and risks (safety, $, operational, etc) are likely to be somewhat similar as well.
There were talking heads stating within the first hour of the disaster that “we told you so. DCA is over capacity and should be closed”
Clearly, by virtue of the accident, two aircraft were in the same space at the same time but the assumptions behind the conclusions have to be questioned as self-serving.
1. All military helicopter traffic was not necessary and esp. did not need to use the corridors it did. Fixed wing aircraft have to use pathways determined by the runways; helicopters do not.
2. Commercial traffic has safely operated from DCA for years; it may well be that ATC is doing things that reduce safety such as switching runways on approach that should end but the notion that DCA should close completely to civil traffic is erroneous.
3. There was civilian, non-commercial traffic at DCA in the past that has all but been eliminated; part of the justification for new commercial flights was that civilian, commercial traffic could “replace” civilian private traffic.
4. many argue that exemption and other flights exist including DCA itself because Congress critters want a close-in airport and yet DCA commands higher average fares than IAD or BWI to many of the same destinations. Given that congress people can use government contract fares, it is actually the paying public that has paid the high fares for DCA’s flights.
DC exists for the people of the United States and the same is true for DCA. Some would love to swing the pendulum completely to the side of eliminating one part of traffic – military or civilian. Cooler heads will prevail and there will be less of both and with much more margin for safety as there should have been. The least valuable and least necessary traffic for both civilian and military purposes will be scratched and real civil and military needs can be safely maintained.
It is a shame that it took this disaster for that balance to be implemented.
I worry that this will be ultimately blamed on human error, when the reality is the system as designed was utterly intolerant of failures. A planned 100′ vertical separation is a near mid-air on the best day.
At the very least, planned separation between VFR corridors and approach paths should be not less than 500′, and visual separation of converging traffic should only be at TCAS altitudes.
Air safety requires a sincere and committed good-faith effort by all involved, and it doesn’t feel like that’s evaporating from the top down.
Yeah – this is spot on… I suspect the primary cause / contributing factors will end up reading something like “the HELO pilot’s failure to maintain visual separation,” and/or “ATC failure to properly monitor and alert VFR aircraft” or something like that, when really the big-picture primary cause is too many aircraft in that airspace.
I wouldn’t even say there are too many planes. That accident could have happened with two as well as two hundred. Their paths conflicted and visual separation in a city at night is the weakest method of deconfliction. They need the various defined paths to not conflict. Separate vertically, separate laterally, separate by both if possible, and then run as many aircraft as you care. And if you can’t separate, then don’t permit the conflict – shut down 33 when r4 is in use, and r4 when 33 is in use.
This was a failure of airspace design, or at least a failure of procedures that didn’t identify the airspace problem and create rules to mitigate it.
I’m pretty sure that there is no 100′ vertical separation minimum. This was a case where the helicopter pilots were responsible for maintaining visual separation. When you’re maintaining visual separation, there are no minimum distances, since your eye can’t tell distance very accurately anyway (and AFAIK radar has an uncertainty while more than 100′ as well), but your eye can tell if you’re behind the jet. The 500′ minimum applies to instrument/ATC-maintained separation as I understand it. (I am not a pilot.)
The issue is why visual separation failed. It appears likely that the helicopter pilots identified the wrong plane, but NTSB will hopefully provide a more precise answer. Once that question is answered, the next question is whether visual separation should be permitted in this particular situation (along the Potomac at night) or in any situation. If visual separation ceases being permitted, the separation minimums would be 500′ vertical or 1.5 mile horizontal, I believe.
I hope this accident will provide the impetus for taking the necessary steps to update and upgrade the air traffic control system in the US. It’s long overdue.
I also have to echo those who are suggesting that we let the investigation gather all the available information about what happened instead of jumping to premature conclusions.
Hopefully the investigation will bring this out…… But who approved a routing that enables a helicopter to fly UNDER an aircraft on final approach to a busy airport? When did that happen? And, who within the FAA approved this, assuming that it was DoD who came up with the idea in the first place? “Fly at 200′, or less?” I thought the last group of aviators who were given that order were the Dam Busters, in 1943? I am hopeful that there will be a meaningful investigation, but alas, if it is 100% objective, I fear more heads will roll…… Hopefully I am wrong.
Bravo CF for wading into this. You do it well. Thank you
It’s not permitted. The helicopter was responsible for maintaining visual separation to fly *behind* the CRJ (and I believe *also* to stay below 200′, though I’m less sure about that). They did not do that. Why we don’t know yet; a likely possibility is they identified the wrong plane and never actually saw the CRJ despite their verbal confirmation that they did.
Thanks Alex. But someone approved the conditions that allowed this accident to happen. Even allowing a heli to fly that close to an aircraft on final should simply not be permitted.
Some many good points raised in these comments, and again I appreciated CF for starting it off
They obviously weren’t “allowed” to fly as close as they did. They were responsible for staying safely behind the CRJ. I think that armchair quarterbacking with broad statements about what should be allowed without the expertise and detailed reconstruction the NTSB will do is folly. A key question is whether helicopter pilots should be allowed to be responsible for maintaining visual separation in those conditions.
Please review a) the RNAV chart for the rwy 33 approach, and b) DoD charts for the same area. You will clearly see that routes 1 and 4 create a hazard, while route 6 actually crosses the airport. Not conjecture – fact. Who designed and accepted these plans? Someone in an armchair?
Sure, routes cross, just like runways cross and roads cross. That doesn’t mean crossing traffic is allowed to be in the same place at the same time.
They should explore the option of closing Reagan National and re-routing the traffic to Dulles International Airport.
Ground transportation options to Dulles have improved, and can be improved even more. Dulles has a dedicated road and a direct subway line. Metro and the Washington Flyer airport bus should both be required to run buses along the subway line when the subway is closed.
Reagan National Airport’s situation has changed since it was built. The area was rural when National was built, now the area is highly developed. Helicopters had not been invented when National Airport was built. Now helicopters are an integral part of our national defense near Reagan National Airport.
If we were to consider closing Reagan National Airport, we would have to consider whether Dulles airport would be overburdened. We don’t just want to shuffle a safety problem from one location to another location. Loudoun County was likely rural when Dulles airport was first built, but the Dulles airport area is probably a crowded urban area itself by now.
Air traffic control staffing should be improved. They should ground air traffic unless adequate air traffic control staffing is available to handle that traffic. Members of Congress need to get to Washington to do their job–if a member of Congress is aboard a flight, let it fly, but ground the other flights.
Essential helicopters for evacuation emergencies should be continued. Non-essential helicopters to rush V.I.P. s to non-urgent appointments should be discontinued.
I agree with “Cranky Flier” that D.E.I. probably had nothing to do with this accident, and the Trump administration should not have brought it up. Let the NTSB determine the cause of the accident.
The Biden administration probably made some mistakes which contributed towards the accident. The Trump administration had only been in office for a few days when the accident occurred, and they were likely using procedures from the previous administration. The Trump administration shouldn’t pat themselves on the back too hard–if the Obama administration shared the blame, that also indicts Trump, because Donnie was in office between Obama and Biden.
One other reason to consider closing Reagan National Airport is national security. Much of the area near Reagan National Airport is probably restricted air space (above the Pentagon, above the White House, above the Capitol, etc.) Better to move the airline traffic further away.
This isn’t foolproof (a plane from Dulles struck the Pentagon on September 11th), but it would help.
Turning DC into an armed fortress that everyday people cannot access is the antithesis of what the US should stand for, regardless of administration.
No infrastructure is perfect and it is a given that many older airports have less margin of safety than newer ones. As humans, we are smart enough to address vulnerabilities and take action to reduce risk without swinging to the extreme of thinking we can eliminate risk.
DCA can function as a commercial airport very close to a high-security area of the country – but DC is not the only high-security area of the US and shouldn’t be treated as too challenging to allow civilian aircraft to operate there.
And, it is also clear that there would be winners and losers if any solution is implemented in its extreme. The best course of action is to figure out what went wrong and address those failures. It is notable that DC worked for years under similar stress – almost a quarter century after 9/11 – so simply arguing that DCA’s role as a commercial airport should be eliminated seem disconnected from what caused the accident.
After 9/11 it was suggested that National should be closed for security reasons & I agreed. But what I learned in recent years was just how densely populated that part of Arlington County really is. I have an old map of the Crystal City Underground a now closed mall that connected nearly all the buildings along Crystal Drive from 12th to 23rd Streets South & west under US 1 Jefferson Davis Highway. The passages are still open as there is access to the WMATA station within.
You can actually walk to the airport from there as it’s under a mile
“They should ground air traffic unless adequate air traffic control staffing is available to handle that traffic.”
Agreed, but the FAA already does this in a way, actually. If you go to https://nasstatus.faa.gov/ and view the operations plan, there is a section called “Staffing Triggers” where known staffing issues within the next 12-24ish hours are called out.
My understanding is that the FAA takes ATC staffing issues into account (along with weather, space launches, VIP flights, higher air traffic driven by major sporting events and trade shows, and much more) when managing US airspace, including when it decides to implement alternative routes and ground stops. I’ve seen literal lines drawn on the map on that website in the past where the FAA has implemented flow controls to limit the # of planes that can cross the line because of limited ATC staffing in the area in question. It’s quite fascinating at times.
I have no problem pontificating what may have happened. Trump is entitled to his opinion and as a tax payer I appreciate hearing it. At no point did I ever take his speculation as fact. If you did, you’re an idiot.
As an airline pilot, not that it entitles me to be the final word in this issue, but it’s pretty obvious the helicopter crew was at fault. When you say you have the traffic in sight, you assume the responsibility to see and avoid. Tower did initially say that CRJ traffic is circling for 33. The Blackhawk crew lacked situational awareness. They should have known that as they come close to the approach path to 33, they need to expect there to be a CRJ. Without having a visual of an airliner on short final to 33, they should have slowed down and inquired with ATC. Especially considering that tower did warn them 20 seconds before impact!
It’s also true that if tower did have the extra controller dedicated to copter traffic there would have been enough bandwidth available to provide more specificity and additional warnings to the Blackhawk crew about the CRJ’s position relative to them.
And that’s where DEI comes in. The fact that FAA is short on controllers is unacceptable. They should have been focused on recruitment by targeting the most competitive candidates rather than focus on dei quotas. Their lack of focus has resulted in missed opportunities for improvement, including lifting the age restriction, reducing the washout rates by improving initial training, among other bureaucratic roadblocks.
Often good leadership is communicating in a gentle way “I don’t know, but there are experts who will figure it out.” Trump didn’t do that. No one can be an expert on everyhing. Trump isn’t an expert on aviation, and he should’ve deferred to those who are. Sharing his opinion on everything isn’t necessary
If instead of relying on reports, you watch the full video or read the full text, the media is couching DT’s extremely dumb comments to make them much worse. Not to mention the timing of this was totally inappropriate, just after the tragedy. He said it “could have been” a cause and, when pressed, that “It’s all under investigation.” The “common sense” comment is in response to a question about possibilities. The MSM described this differently as if it’s the definite cause.
Ok, but then you will also have no problem when people are stating that his opinion is reprehensible, right? Good, because his opinion was reprehensible.
And you will also have no problem when people are stating that his opinion is idiotic, right? Good, because his opinion is idiotic.
He can continue making reprehensible and idiotic statements, and we can continue calling them for what they are.
I miss the days of Paul Harvey, when he did his “And Now For the Rest of the Story” pieces.
If you take off any & all political blinders, you’ll see everyone has a bit of a the piece of the truth.
Fact is, the last administration made DEI a more important priority than dumping the current IT infrastructure. If you don’t believe me, look at who they wanted to run the FAA. He was FAR from qualified. But he was a minority checkbox. The congressional hearings were aweful. The guy knew NOTHING about the FAA, the airlines, manufacturers, training, etc.
Lets hope bad Orange Man can have use some of Elon’s IT geekiness to revamp the current ATC system. It needs it!
And the current FAA head does have experience?
And the IT infrastructure has been a long running saga. Decades. Under both Republican and Democratic presidents.
Closing DCA is not an option. There is no way IAD and BWI could absorb the lost capacity — it would be sheer chaos.
CF: Last week when I posted a Breeze-related comment critical of Trump it was taken down almost immediately, presumably on the basis that it had a political element to it. Today you’ve called out Trump for his despicable politicization of a tragic accident at the same time bodies were still being pulled from the water. Glad you’ve seen the light.
This post and many of the comments are way too political. It would be better if people waited to make comments but you can’t fault politicians for making political statements while making political statements yourself. Just as it’s too early to draw any conclusions, it’s also too early to discard factors like staffing or selection.
It’s a fact that ATC remains understaffed four years after Covid. There’s no good reason for that and it should be addressed. It may or may not be a factor in this accident. If DEI requirements are the cause for why ATC remains understaffed that should be allowed to be discussed, whether it’s the cause of the accident or not.
Beyond that, it’s time to wait for the analysis. And legitimate to question whether there needs to be so much military helicopter traffic, and if the military traffic is required, whether there needs to be as much civilian commercial traffic. Certainly traffic from Wichita to Boston doesn’t need to flow via DCA and could flow via ORD, IAD, ATL or PHL or other hubs.
I’m still shocked that a corridor for helicopters was allowed to operate under the flight path with a clearance of only a couple hundred feet. That allows zero room for human error, and was an accident waiting to happen.
They weren’t. The helicopters were responsible for flying behind the CRJ, not under the CRJ.
“I’m even more concerned about speculation than normal since DCA was involved. This is an airport that probably wouldn’t be open or at least wouldn’t be nearly as crowded if it wasn’t so close to the Capitol. All those Congresspeople care about is being able to fly home to their districts as quickly as possible and getting re-elected. The thought of going to Dulles… how dare you even say it!”
It might be a fun article one day to write about the airports that exist today that probably “shouldn’t” or, perhaps, wouldn’t without history. Off the top of my head:
DCA — Obvious
LGA — mainly just due to landing patterns required at take off and landing quite near Manhattan
DAL — Take off and landings pretty much directed right at the Dallas skyline and over heavily populated parts of Dallas with a nearby airport that has lots of room for new terminals
MDW — Short runways. surrounded by heavy city areas
YTZ — Sorry Porter… but this airport would probably make a better park than airport
LCY — VERY short takeoffs roughly into the LHR landing path (though not right on it)
SNA — more of a NIMBY thing but… they do seem serious about their dislike of the airport surrounding it
I don’t mean to suggest any of these airports should be closed or will be, just would be an interesting article about all the airports that likely wouldn’t be built today.
Agreed, going through “list of current airports that wouldn’t be allowed to be built today” would be an interesting discussion.
I add BOS to that list. It’s VERY close to the built-up major area of Boston, right across the river from the Seaport/South Boston areas, and has a small footprint (acreage) for its level of traffic. Also, some of the main docks of the ocean port of Boston are in an inlet (on the other side of BOS from access to the ocean), so ships have to pass through the channel right in front of the thresholds to runways 4L & 4R. Depending on the heights of the ships, that can create issues (and alerts/watchouts from ATC to planes) when ships have to make those transits past KBOS if 4L/4R are in use.
San Diego International Airport is another airport which wouldn’t be built today. It is also located in a built up urban area, near downtown San Diego.
Ok, but then you will also have no problem when people are stating that his opinion is reprehensible, right? Good, because his opinion was reprehensible.
And you will also have no problem when people are stating that his opinion is idiotic, right? Good, because his opinion is idiotic.
He can continue making reprehensible and idiotic statements, and we can continue calling them for what they are.
Perhaps President Trump, as Commander in Chief, knows something we do not know. Such as what was happening inside the helicopter just before the incident. Perhaps Trump will be proven right yet again. We had a military pilot with a low number of hours (450) and spent last few years as a social aide to the white house instead of flying, plus had aspirations to be an MD (not a pilot). Let’s wait for the report.
Allie – I can guarantee you he does not know anything more about what happened inside that airplane. The black boxes hadn’t even been recovered yet. It’s just wild and unhelpful speculation.
Unfortunately there’s more then a few of those types in the military, not serious enough about flying to be the consummate professional it takes to not kill yourself or others. The flight suit is a really a strong attraction though, makes great selfies for the now deleted medias.
I’m also sorry to see this blog go hard left into politics, we get enough of that shit everywhere else, good luck.
Capt S – In the name of useful discussion instead of people just throwing stupid names at each other and hiding in their corners, I’ll bite. What is “hard left into politics” about this? Disagreeing with the way a president does something does not make something hard left. And finding fault with a private company kissing ass does not make something hard left. Please, explain.
There was an amazing explanation of the control tower communications with both aircraft by an American Airlines captain on YouTube (which he later set to private). He believes that what most likely happened based on the communications is that the helicopter pilot was looking at the wrong airplane when he confirmed he had visual on the CRJ. This was a terrible tragedy, that President Trusk felt the need to piss all over with his insecurity and insanity.
It’s hard to take the author seriously when he defends Pete Buttigieg. A total incompetent who constantly didn’t show up for work DEI hire. His own locality he ran was glad to be rid of him he was so incompetent.
I don’t know if his policies caused this accident or not. But if you love transportation, you gotta admit Pete Buttigieg should never have been let near it.
This whole discussion reminded me of how long it has been since I have been to either DCA or IAD. I checked the FAA status for today… DCA is running an arrival rate of 26. IAD is running an arrival rate of 96, yes ninety-six! The highest demand peak I see for IAD is 63 and that is the largest peak by far. IAD could absorb ALL of DCA’s traffic and still be expected to maintain smooth operations.
I remember the clusters that happened at IAD 20 years ago, but by the numbers that seems to have changed substantially. Has IAD usage really fallen so much post UA/CO merger?
Correct me if I’m wrong but aren’t helicopters designed to hover? I’ve not seen anything anywhere that says the helicopter should have been told to hold position mid-river or even on the east side of the river. Why not? Surely that would have averted this, or is it just that like most things in the US everyone has priority to avoid upsetting some big I am somewhere?