Crash On The Potomac

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I watched this news unfold last night, and now that more details are available, there are lots of questions.

A PSA Airlines plane operating an American Airlines flight collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter near Washington, D.C.’s Ronald Reagan National Airport on Wednesday evening. After generating a large fireball over the Potomac River, the remains of both aircraft dropped into the frigid waters.

As authorities do not expect to find any survivors amid the ice and debris, rescue efforts have given way to recovery efforts.

The Federal Aviation Administration, which has launched a joint investigation into the deadly incident with the National Transportation Safety Board, confirmed that American Eagle Flight 5342 en route from Wichita, Kansas, a PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet, collided midair with a Sikorsky H-60 helicopter while on approach to runway 33 at the airport just before 8:50 p.m. local time.

There were 60 passengers and four crew members on board Flight 5342. Three service members were aboard the helicopter, which the Pentagon indicated was out of Ford Belvoir, Virginia. […]

U.S. Figure Skating told the Post that several members of its skating community were aboard the commercial airliner when it crashed. The likely victims, including athletes, coaches, and family members, were on their way home from the National Development Camp held in Wichita in conjunction with the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

Via Scott Adams, a a Blackhawk helicopter crew chief and flight instructor provides important context.

28 Replies to “Crash On The Potomac”

  1. This screams of a failure by the ATC personnel, which in turn is going to lead to the ugly but necessary questioning of the credentials of everyone present and on-duty in the tower at the time, in particular ferreting out if any of them were DEI hires who would never have been hired but for their checking the right “identity” boxes.

    I hate that that’s where my brain goes first, as opposed to some kind of fatal oversight in the operating procedures for ATC, but, as has been said many times, I didn’t make these rules.

    1. 1000’s of more qualified were turned down for ATC jobs because they were white males during the past 4 years. This should surprise nobody. But the media is already blaming Trump for announcing a freeze on hiring to get rid of DEI hiring a few days ago

          1. I’ve been a Trump/MAGA supporter (albeit with no vote in the matter, being a Brit).
            I’m also a (light aircraft) pilot so know a little bit about what likely happened.
            I was DISGUSTED* at Mr T’s tone deaf politicking. Even if 100% right (and it was maybe 50%) it was entirely inappropriate for that press briefing. And neither of the ar** lickers who spoke after him even gently reproved him.
            I guess that’s what you get with the Trump – oftentimes right, but heaven help when he’s wrong.

            *Yes DISGUSTED, my gut hurts :-(((

      2. Well, OF COURSE it is President Trump’s fault! He’s been in power for a whole week or so now, and anything going wrong will be solely the fault of him and his appointees…

        Sarcasm, of course… But this incident is truly terrible, and I would not be surprised if D.E.I. – which is more apt as D.I.E. – is indeed a factor…

    2. Ian Miles Cheong on X: “Thanks to DEI, more than 3,000 top-performing, motivated applicants who applied as air traffic controllers to the FAA lost out because they weren’t the right race. https://t.co/tB4mRxTapG” / X
      https://x.com/stillgray/status/1884858597462442427?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1884860874021621879%7Ctwgr%5E82a21bff0176b0bb975b69662754064e120722f5%7Ctwcon%5Es2_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Finstapundit.com%2F699475%2F

  3. All discussions of PATCO members failure will be censored by the legacy media. Criticisms of the government unions is not allowed. Likewise, criticism of DEI Army pilots will be off limits.

    Let’s see if Bezos will allow accurate reporting on this

  4. RE the crew chief comments. the helicopter was flying near an airport flight path. If it is as difficult to see as the crew chief says, what were they doing?

  5. Makes me wonder why any training flights would be in the direction toward any busy airport instead of in the direction away from any busy airport. As a training policy it makes no sense . . . and we can be sure there will also be a DEI issue involved.

  6. There is zero reason for that helicopter to be at that altitude and on that path near a busy airport. The RJ had no chance. That said, ATC shouldn’t have been asking for a visual confirmation, should have ordered helicopter to change course and altitude.

  7. With respect, the Blackhawk crew chief expertly explained how it is very hard to see a blackhawk.
    I didn’t see anywhere in his explanation how hard it was to see a fully illuminated jet liner coming in for a landing, other than the implication that the crew was engaged in other activities “inside” the copter. THAT I find rather astonishing. It’s like a driver on the road having the radio turned on full blast, while checking his GPS, making phone calls and texting all while driving down a busy highway. At best, procedures need to be improved. At worst, pure negligence, even malice.
    That being said, in my earlier post, I suggested (it was a suggestion, after all) that the collision, at best, was avoidable, at worst, deliberate.
    But I will concede now, as I did then, to wait for the investigators to do their work, and submit a final report.

    2. Yeah, I’m sorry, but I read the Blackhawk crew chief’s self-aggrandizing comments. They’re all nonsensical, and irrelevant to this situation. And what was entirely missing from his comments? He said absolutely NOTHING about the flight protocols when the helicopter is approaching … indeed, crossing … an active airport landing runway!!! Don’t tell me about not “seeing” anything because eyes are looking at instruments … because wouldn’t ONE of those systems be radar WARNINGS??

      As the chopper approaches an active commercial LANDING strip!!! Shouldn’t EVERY SINGLE ONE of the crew be focused on NOT HITTING AN AIRLINER!?? They should have NO … OTHER … TASK … whatsoever. NONE. So … I want to know what protocols are in place for helicopter pilots when approaching an active commercial landing zone? Shouldn’t the helicopter crew be contacting ATC long before they approach the runway?? Shouldn’t they be PROACTIVELY checking with ATC … not waiting for ATC to contact them? Shouldn’t THAT be an essential protocol when approaching a commercial aircraft landing zone flight path?

      Forgive my anger … but I fly A LOT into John Wayne airport in Orange County… and the flight path circles neighborhoods at low levels for miles. I look out the windows and see MANY small aircraft in the skies … many of which are landing at John Wayne. I am not a worrier by nature … but I worry that every pilot and every ATC are competent, and doing their jobs … with perfection. Because NOTHING but perfection is acceptable.

  8. There’s no excuse for any aircraft to be in the approach path of any busy, major airport. For Obvious Reasons.
    No Excuses.
    Incompetence and Inexperience just cost the deaths of too many innocent people.
    Wait for DEI hire, either the pilot or the Trainer.

  9. It’s demonstrable a sequence of events lead to such tragic crashes.
    Pertinent data I’ve gleaned from mass media, who play nice in tragedies like this, at least for a day or so:
    (Pure speculation alert of which all or part could turn out to be irrelevant):

    1. Commercial aircraft communicate via VHF; military choppers communicate via UHF.
    2. The flight was diverted on approach to runway 33 from 1, those numbers the angle of approach (100, 330 deg).
    3. Runway 33 is shorter so the jet may have had to lose some altitude.
    4. While it’s clear ATC was communicating with both aircraft, did the chopper hear the jet’s change of runway?
    5. A flight was outbound from Runway 1 at the time of the collision.
    6. The chopper crew indicated they “saw” the other aircraft to ATC, but which one did they see?
    7. Was the military chopper monitoring VHF to enable it hear ground to air communications.
    8. The chopper was on a training flight. Was there some disorientation?
    9. As the video of the crash demonstrates, it can be difficult distinguish between outgoing and incoming traffic.

    So sorry for all those affected, but in the normal course of events, an investigation is required and likely corrective action taken.

    1. My take: The established procedures (helicopter Route 4, the late turn from 01 to 33, visual separation, esp at night) virtually guaranteed that some day this was going to happen. And one day it did. That’s because they put potentially conflicting traffic into the same bit of air, with minimal vertical and horizontal separation, and someone didn’t figure that maybe that separation might happen to be zero. See PPRUNE for long thread.

  10. A training flight can also include handling procedures around a busy airport. Eventually, all pilots must deal with this. What I read was that the “student” was on an annual proficiency flight, meaning it was a check ride of an already trained and competant pilot. Around a busy airport, the cockpit gets busy and the allocation of tasks between the pilot and co-pilot is crucial. Commercial pilots excel at this. Any number of scenarios can increase the workload where the crew becomes task saturated. There are many examples of crews with their heads inside the cockpit losing outside situational awareness and even flying into the ground. Even some of the best.
    Human factors in aviation is a domain that studies this. How did they not notice the lights? A busy airport at night is nothing BUT lights and the object that will hit you is stationary in your window. Obviously the ATC angle is very suspect. I won’t go over the questions related to DEI in the comments I agree with them. This DEI tomfoolery was promoted by mediocrities with no clue as to what effect it can have on serious businesses. Quotas lead to lowering of standard which eventually leads to death and disaster. We’ve seen this before.

    “Aviation in itself is not inherently dangerous. But to an even greater degree than the sea, it is terribly unforgiving of any carelessness, incapacity or neglect.”

    Captain Alfred Gilmer Lamplugh, C.B.E., F.R.Ae.S, M.I.Ae.S., M.C.A.I., F.R.G.S.— (He was a pilot in WW1)

    1. Joe …. u beat me to it although I was going to say a “visually impaired” person …. I figured that adding “black lesbian” to the blind attribute is a nice touch 😉
      As our leader states “mischief is important”!!

  13. Yeah … and now the narrative is getting established that there was an “elevation problem” with the helicopter as if it could have and should have flown UNDER the landing airliner. “Experts” Puhleeze!? There is NO WAY a helicopter could fly UNDER an airliner approaching a runway that is literally on the edge of the Potomac. Good Lord we have such ignorant “experts”.

    The talking head “experts” are making this airline passenger question the safety and the competency of everyone in the flight industry. Yikes!!!

    1. Regrettably, this is the protocol.
      I am very very familiar with the North side approach (this crash was on the southern side)
      The ceiling for helicopters is 200 ft. The planes pass over. For years, the approach on the North side was referred to as the “slam dunk”.
      Last time I landed there I thought the entire ass of the DC-9 I was in was destroyed. (It wasn’t)

      As to Mark McEathron:
      His narrative serves as a perfect explanation why all the “Hard” crap should not be done in high traffic airspace.
      Instead of railing against people sharing speculative outrage based on witnessing either abject stupidity or an act of terrorism. He would be better served to either shut up as he is discredited by his own unquestioning participation in needlessly endangering civilians or constructively criticize doing the “Hard” stuff in proximity of high traffic air space.
      Helicopters.
      D.C. has more helicopter traffic than I can describe.
      A lot of military, federal government, park service, police, medivac, news, traffic….
      Some days, I have been just dumbfounded by the volume. It’s actually crazy. Too much. Helicopter “rt. 4” works if you stick with the ceiling and keep to the east side of the river. But this time, for some reason, they didn’t so….

      1. While we know the helicopter was too high, it is equally possible the plane was too low, (the “slam dunk”) which is interesting. That way you can blame everyone!!! I’ve just spent some time looking for an air space diagram for Reagan Airport. Can’t find it because the internet is shrinking like a dying star

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