The Military Helicopter in Washington DC: An Airborne Explosion After a Supersonic Collision Assigned by the Ronald Reagan Air Force
The Black Hawk pilot is heard on the radio responding, “PAT 25, has the traffic in sight, request visual separation.” “Visual separation” means that the pilot gives the air traffic controller advance notice of their plans to avoid too close of a plane. The tower gives the OK for visual separation.
The helicopter pilot acknowledges it sees an incoming plane, but it is unclear if it is looking at the correct aircraft. The conditions Wednesday night were dark, but clear. However, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and President Trump have said crew members on the helicopter were wearing night vision goggles, which can restrict the user’s line of vision.
Within 30 seconds of the recording reviewed by NPR, the military helicopter (referred to as PAT 25 on the radio) is told by Reagan’s controllers that the plane is incoming and says, “traffic just south of the Woodrow Bridge, a CRJ, its 1,200 feet setting up for runway 33.”
The controllers on duty at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport could be heard telling planes to take off and land minutes before the crash.
Responders are still working to recover the bodies of the 67 victims — 64 people on the plane and three aboard the Black Hawk. Among the passengers of the jet were members of the U.S. Figure Skating team, several Russian figure skaters, coaches and family members, according to U.S. Figure Skating and Russian state media.
Investigators are scrambling to figure out why a military helicopter and a passenger airplane collided and plunged into the Potomac River in Washington DC late Wednesday, the first major US air crash in 16 years.
Richard Levy, a retired American Airlines pilot and aviation instructor, told NPR’s Here and Now that the controller was doing “a magnificent job” guiding aircraft through the air and found no fault with the instructions the controller gave both the helicopter and the American Airlines jet.
There is a military base near the airport. A small helicopter and a plane are seen flying low to the ground in a video from the Kennedy Center. Two people collide in a big explosion, causing several burning fragments.
A short time before arriving, air traffic control asked the American Airlines flight if it was possible to land on runway 33. The pilots said yes, apparently switching runways during their approach. Some have wondered whether this change in flight path could have caught the Black Hawk off guard.
It is thought that human error played a part in raising questions about a chronic shortage of air traffic controllers and pilots. Authorities are looking into coordination between military and civilian aviation.
He says that human factors could be at play. I prefer not to draw conclusions early on. While the passenger number has bounced back, I don’t think the workforce has caught up in every aspect of aviation.
Did a passenger jet hear the tower at the Black Hawk attack? A case study of a high-energy collision in New York state in 2009 when Colgan Air crashed
Air traffic control asked the helicopter if it had seen the aircraft, and was told to “pass behind the CRJ,” which would have had the right of way unless the Black Hawk was on an urgent military mission. It’s not known if the helicopter responded.
passenger jets may not have heard the tower radioing Black Hawk due to it being on a different radio frequencies than a military flight. If more than one party on a channel are radioing at the same time, others might not hear the whole conversation.
The passenger jet, which was operated by regional carrier PSA Airlines on behalf of American Airlines, had 64 people on board, and police boats have already recovered 27 bodies. In New York state in 2009, Colgan Air crashed, killing all four people on board.