Washington first responders believe there are no survivors after a midair collision between an American Airlines flight and a military helicopter near Reagan National Airport Wednesday night, Jan. 29. The “unprecedented” crash over the Potomac River is the first such collision in nearly 50 years.
Authorities said 60 passengers and four crew members were aboard the regional flight, which departed from Wichita, Kansas. Three service members were on the Black Hawk helicopter.
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When was the last mid-air collision over the U.S.?
“The last time that a United States airliner was involved in a mid-air collision was September of 1978 in San Diego, California,” Steven Wallace, the former director of the FAA’s Office of Accident Investigation, said. “[There are] around 30,000 flights a day. So to say it is unprecedented is an understatement, but no experts in the field will say it can’t happen tomorrow.”
In September 1978, a flight operated by Pacific Southwest Airlines collided with a private Cessna aircraft over San Diego, California. The accident left 144 people dead. That crash led to improvements in the Traffic Collision Avoidance System.
Wednesday’s collision was the deadliest air crash in the U.S. since 2001.
“We don’t believe there are any survivors,” Washington Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly said. “We are now at the point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation.”
Where the investigation goes from here?
What led to the collision will be the subject of investigations from both the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration in the coming months.
“On final approach into Reagan National, it collided with a military aircraft on an otherwise normal approach,” American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said of the disaster. “At this time, we don’t know why the military aircraft came into the path of the aircraft.”
“Now the NTSB is in charge,” Wallace said of the investigation. “They will make the determination of probable cause. The one thing the NTSB never does is rush to conclusions. They’re extremely thorough, [and] extremely methodical. You typically don’t see an accident cause for often more than a year after it happens.”
“So [they] certainly would look at the air traffic control communications. It’s probably extremely unlikely that anything was wrong mechanically with either of these aircraft, but still, that’s not going to be eliminated, it’s going to be looked at,” Wallace added.
Discussions about Reagan Airport safety have gone on for years
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is directly across the river from the District of Columbia. The centralized location and heavy traffic make its approach more intricate than other airports.
“You build an airport out in the middle of the desert, let’s take, for example, the new Denver airport, or the airport at Dallas, Fort Worth,” Wallace said. “You go out there on a huge amount of land [and] you build an airport. And guess what? You don’t have runways [that] cross each other. And that’s what we call ‘building an airport off a clean sheet of paper.’
“And Reagan airport is the exact opposite: cramped space, all those three runways, they all cross each other. There are challenges there and pilots operate safely in and out of there all day every day, as you know,” he said.
What did President Trump say about the crash?
President Donald Trump addressed the crash the morning of Thursday, Jan. 30.
“We must have only the highest standards for those who work in our aviation system,” Trump said. “I changed the Obama standards from very mediocre at best to extraordinary.”
The president used the opportunity to further question the FAA’s diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
“I do want to point out that various articles that appeared prior to my entering office, and here’s one: the FAA’s diversity push includes a focus on hiring people with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities,” the president said.
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The U.S. has faced an air traffic controller shortage for the last few years. The shortage even prompted United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby to say it could lead to serious issues.
Tags: American Airlines, Black Hawk helicopter, Crash, Donald Trump, FAA, Federal Aviation Administration, National Transportation Safety Board, plane crash, Ronald Reagan, U.S. military, Washington, Washington DC
Steven Wallace:
We haven’t had a mid-air collision with a U.S. airliner since 1978
Simone Del Rosario:
The American Airlines collision with a military helicopter at Reagan National Airport is unprecedented in the modern era of flying.
It’s been nearly 50 years since a mid-air collision with a U.S. airliner. It’s been almost 16 years since a U.S. airliner crashed, killing everyone on board.
Sean Duffy:
What I’ve seen so far, do I think this was preventable? Absolutely.
Simone Del Rosario:
On Wednesday night, a regional American Airlines flight landing in DC from Wichita, Kansas, collided with a military helicopter. Sixty passengers were on that plane, along with four crew members. Three military members were on the helicopter.
John Donnelly:
At this point, we don’t believe there are any survivors from this accident.
Simone Del Rosario:
I want to bring in Stephen Wallace. He is the former director of the FAA office of accident investigation. Sir. I know that things are unfolding pretty quickly about this, but do you have any initial theories based off what you’ve seen so far as to what caused this breakdown in safety?
Steven Wallace:
Well, as someone who’s spent a lot of his life in accident investigation, I am very loath to speculate, so I can assure you that we will all the evidence you could want is probably there. In other words, this, this airliner is going to have a state of the art cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder that records hundreds of parameters, and there’s radar data, and there’s audio data, and there are eyewitnesses, and there’s all the wreckage. So so everything is there, and then, now the NTSB is in charge. They will make the determination of probable cause. The one thing the NTSB never does is rush to conclusions. They’re extremely thorough, extremely methodical. You typically don’t see an accident cause for often more than a year after it happens. So, you know, so I won’t speculate as as to the cause. I mean, I will observe here that the airliner is on an instrument flight plan. It’s very close to landing. You know, a typical, a typical airliner approach path is about a three degree descent, which means, I mean, in the final phase that it’s, it’s about 300 feet per mile. And so there, down there, I could just see from where the river is. And of course, I lived right. I live right on that river and and that it would they were probably less than a half a mile from their touchdown point. So they’re they’re very, very close to the ground, and so the controller issued a visual separation, and they have to get a confirmation from the pilot, which they they got. I didn’t hear it very clearly, but I think it’s in there that the pilot acknowledged the instruction that they acknowledge that they could see the airliner and helicopter pilot correct yes and and that they acknowledged, well, they were instructed to fall in behind it. I’m not clear if the if the helicopter was going to also then land at Reagan airport.
Simone Del Rosario:
Have you had concerns about activity at Reagan National Airport? I know that. You know, lawmakers in the past have expressed concern as airlines are looking for more slots in the area. I myself used to live a couple of minutes away from the airport. We know how small that area really is, and there is a lot of activity.
Steven Wallace:
Well, that’s a discussion that’s been going on as I was at the FAA for 32 years, and left the end of 2008 and that discussion has been going on a long time, and I but I used to kind of have a sort of a joking this is obviously not a joking situation. But the two things pilots like doing with approaches to Reagan airport is complaining about them and flying them. I mean, it’s beautiful, and on a nice day, it’s, you’re just sort of flying down the river, and it’s, it’s, it’s visual flying. I mean, there are instrument landing systems, but they can only be used in, you know, certain directions and and so for maximum capacity, they do visual approaches from both of the north and the south and and today they were operating toward the north from the south. I mean, last night, when the accident happened. So, yeah, it’s, it’s not ideal. I mean, you build an airport out in the middle of the desert. Let’s take, for example, the new Denver airport, or the airport at Dallas, Fort Worth I mean, you where you go out there, and a huge amount of land, and you, and you build an airport. And guess what? You don’t have. Runways don’t cross each other. And you know, that’s what we call building an airport off a clean sheet of paper. And Reagan airport is the exact opposite, cramped space all those three runways, they all cross each other. So yeah, there are challenges there, and pilots operate safely in and out of there all day, every day, as you know, as a
Simone Del Rosario:
long time expert in this field, especially an accident investigation for you, what are the first questions that you want answered?
Steven Wallace:
Well, again, let me just say that the NTSB, the questions they want answered is not what’s first or what’s last, but they want every single question answered this extremely, extremely thorough. And, you know, I have heard clips, but not really, not I’m not I’m not sure I heard all of them are. They were entirely clear. And I think that there’s a one frequency for the fixed wing aircraft and another for the helicopter. So certainly want to, would, would look at the air traffic control communications and you know, it’s probably extremely unlikely that anything was wrong mechanically with either of these aircraft, but that still, then that’s not going to be eliminated. It’s going to be it’s going to be looked at.
Simone Del Rosario:
This is creating such a shock to the industry, to Americans, it’s pretty unprecedented in recent history to have a plane crash like this. And you know, we’ve heard from the responding agencies from DC fire saying they do not believe that there are survivors. How unprecedented is this crash?
Steven Wallace:
Well, the the United States airlines, the airliners, all have sophisticated collision avoidance systems. Now, the last time that a United States airliner was involved in a mid air collision, if I’m not wrong, was september of 1978 San Diego, California. This is a system that operates, depending on how you count them, 28,000 flights a day. Maybe the number goes up and down. If you add in the corporate jets and private jets, maybe private planes might go to 45,000 flights a day operated by the system. So now not, not everybody, has the sophisticated T cast terminal collision avoidance system, but this airliner certainly had it. And so we haven’t had an a mid air collision with a US airliner since 1978 let’s say the end. You know, around 30,000 flights a day. So it’s just to say it is unprecedented. Is is an understatement, but no experts in the field will say it can’t happen tomorrow. And guess what? It happened last night. And so I will say that one thing worth noting is that the collision avoidance system, when you get close to the ground and close to the airport, you would start to get so many warnings as there’s so many airplanes close together that the system is inhibited. So below, below about it may vary a bit, but below about 500 feet, this collision certainly occurred. Below 500 feet, the system does not give resolution advisories. So if two airliners are up at cruise altitude, and they’re about to collide, the system will coordinate until one airplane to fly up and one to fly down, and it’ll say, it’ll it’ll give what’s called a resolution advisory
But modern airplanes, even the helicopter, perhaps, could, could, could see the other airplane on on a display. I mean, I had a private airplane of my own, until a year or so ago, that I could, I could see other traffic on it. I mean, so this, the technology is now getting to be, you know, quite commonplace. Well,
Simone Del Rosario:
we’re going to be learning a lot through this investigation, we appreciate your expertise. Steven Wallace, thank you so much.
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