A collision between a passenger jet and U.S. Army helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport late Wednesday marked the first time in more than 15 years that there had been a mass fatality event in U.S. airspace related to commercial aviation.
The accident, which killed a reported 67 people, took place while American Airlines Flight 5342 was making its final approach to the runway. The Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet and the Sikorsky H-60, commonly known as a Black Hawk, collided only a few hundred meters above the ground, officials said.
The plane was carrying 60 passengers and four crew members. There were three service members aboard the military helicopter, including the pilot. Both aircraft crashed into the icy waters of the Potomac River, and authorities said Thursday that they didn’t believe there were any survivors.
The accident took place in darkness at 8:47 p.m., and no significant weather problems were reported. As of Thursday, authorities had not identified the cause of the accident.
However, The New York Times on Thursday, citing an “internal preliminary Federal Aviation Administration safety report” it reviewed, reported that staffing at the airport’s air traffic control tower was “not normal” Wednesday night. The newspaper said a single air traffic controller was directing incoming and outgoing plane traffic as well as helicopter traffic in the area. Those jobs are usually split between two controllers.
Experts consider crash an anomaly
Aviation experts said as tragic as the accident was, it should be considered an anomaly in an air traffic system that has been notably free of major disasters for many years.
“Some of it was luck. Some of it is technology. And mostly it was the tremendous job that the pilots and air traffic controllers do,” former United Airlines pilot Captain Ross “Rusty” Aimer told VOA.
“They literally perform miracles every day because our system is extremely congested everywhere you go. … And Washington National Airport is, perhaps in my 60 years in aviation, one of the most demanding and busiest airports in the world.”
It is necessary to look back to 2009 to find a comparable commercial disaster in U.S. airspace. At that time, a Colgan Air jet en route from New Jersey to Buffalo, New York, stalled during its approach and crashed into a house, killing 49 passengers and crew, as well as one individual in the house.
In 2013, an Asiana Airlines jet crashed while landing in San Francisco, California. Two passengers who were not wearing seat belts were killed when they were thrown from the plane, and another person died after being struck by an emergency response vehicle on the tarmac. There were 187 other people who suffered injuries, many serious, but no other fatalities.
While there have been a number of other high-profile incidents involving U.S. airlines recently, none involved mass casualties. Last year, for example, a door plug blew out of an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max in midflight, but the plane landed safely, though some passengers suffered minor injuries.
Experts stressed that such events occur in only a tiny fraction of the millions of flights that take place in the U.S. every year.
Robert W. Mann Jr., an airline industry analyst and former senior airline executive, told VOA that the U.S. commercial aviation industry experiences an extremely low level of safety incidents and “an even lower level of fatality accidents.”
“That’s not luck, that’s effort,” he said. “We’re thankful to have so many professionals in the operating environment. In the oversight environment, focus on safety is the number one priority.”
Crash occurs in crowded airspace
The accident took place in one of the most crowded — and highly regulated — sectors of airspace in the United States. The Washington region has three major airports, 11 regional airports and dozens of heliports — not counting the multiple military installations in the region with aviation operations.
Keith M. Cianfrani, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel who served as a flight instructor and an accident investigator, told VOA he flew helicopters in the area where the accident took place while on active duty and later as a commercial pilot.
“It’s congested,” said Cianfrani, who now works as an aviation safety consultant and adjunct professor at Embry‑Riddle Aeronautical University. “So, it’s not unusual to cross the path of an incoming [plane] as long as there is traffic separation.”
Traffic separation refers to the distance, in time and space, between aircraft in the same area.
But because of the congestion, there are very clear rules about where aircraft are allowed to be and when they can be there, Cianfrani said. Helicopters are required to follow specific routes when passing through the region, he said, calling it “very uncommon” to see something like Wednesday’s crash take place.
“As a whole, the general aviation industry in the United States is outstanding,” he said. “They all have to adhere to what we call SMS — safety management systems. On a regular basis, they get audited. They have an internal audit program, and they’re constantly being looked at by people like myself going in and auditing their safety program. So, it’s outstanding.”
Turnover in federal aviation oversight
Wednesday’s accident took place at a time when leadership of the federal agencies in charge of flight safety is being overhauled by the new administration of President Donald Trump.
The day after his inauguration, Trump dismissed Transportation Security Administration Administrator David Pekoske and disbanded the Aviation Security Advisory Committee, which provides the federal government with recommendations for aviation safety. He also initiated a hiring freeze, preventing the hiring of new air traffic controllers.
Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, who oversees the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), was sworn in the day before the crash.
Michael Whitaker, who served as administrator of the FAA in former President Joe Biden’s administration, announced in December that he would resign his post on January 20, the day Trump took office.
The new president has not yet nominated a permanent replacement for Whitaker, but on Thursday he named Chris Rocheleau, a former Air Force officer who has spent more than 20 years at the FAA, as interim administrator.
Trump spreads blame
With recovery teams still searching for bodies in the Potomac River on Thursday, Trump held a press conference and attempted to pin blame for the accident on the previous presidential administration. He asserted, with no proof or evidence, that the Biden administration had lowered hiring standards for air traffic controllers as part of its “diversity, equity, and inclusion” efforts.
Trump took particular aim at former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, saying he had driven the agency “right into the ground with his diversity.”
Buttigieg responded with a post on the social media platform X.
“Despicable,” Buttigieg wrote. “As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying. We put safety first, drove down close calls, grew Air Traffic Control, and had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch.
“President Trump now oversees the military and the FAA,” he added. “One of his first acts was to fire and suspend some of the key personnel who helped keep our skies safe. Time for the President to show actual leadership and explain what he will do to prevent this from happening again.”
Kim Lewis contributed to this report.
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