Plane and Blackhawk helicopter crash in Washington DC

Confirmation in the press conference. They have switched from rescue to recovery. There are no survivors.

further notes:
  • Both the helicopter and the jet were considered to be on normal flight paths.
  • They do not believe the behaviour of the helicopter was unusual.
  • 27 bodies have been pulled from the jet. One from the helicopter.
 
marshallpond said:
Our old coach -- who went home yesterday -- is currently in the staging area at Reagan together with the dad of one of his skaters (all of his 3 students and their families are on the flight) to wait for any news. My best friend is on that flight together with her skater son and her husband.
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I’m so sorry @marshallpond.
 
My condolences to anyone who lost friends or family!

rfisher said:
Watching the video, you really have to wonder how that helicopter did not see the lights of the jet. Based on the jet's approach, they possibly hit it from behind.
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I didn't watch the video but the helicopter should have known to expect planes over the Potomac because all flights in and out of Reagan have to follow the Potomac from/up until a certain point.

This crash is beyond puzzling.
 
So many military helicopter accidents are training accidents. (My husband lost a schoolmate to such a crash in Israel back in the ‘70s.) I have to wonder why training flights would be sent to such crowded airspace.
 
A lot of people feel that Reagan National should have been shut down years ago. Congress won't allow it to close because it closer for them to fly out of than Dulles or BWI (Baltimore). They have a lot of close calls at Reagan National.
 
My heart goes out to everyone here who had friends and family on the plane.

I only heard this morning, I hadn't heard news, my sister says on the phone "Did you know the skaters on the plane that crashed" and I'm thinking why is she talking about 1962? :fragile:

This January's weather has been reminding me of the winter of 1982 at that terrible crash. I cannot believe this has happened.
 
The flight was switched to land on 33 quite late in the piece, and was the only plane to be approaching that runway in some time. It seems the helicopter may have missed that they were on approach for 33 and when asked if traffic was in sight thought the departing plane from the other runway was the traffic.

I am sure the NTSB will produce a better summary but that seems to be the most popular (sensible) theory among aviation people thus far.
 
PRlady said:
So many military helicopter accidents are training accidents. (My husband lost a schoolmate to such a crash in Israel back in the ‘70s.) I have to wonder why training flights would be sent to such crowded airspace.
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They have to train for national emergencies like war or terrorist attacks. The Maryland State Police helicopters also do a lot of homeland security training. Every year they participate in a training exercise at the US Capitol. (The Maryland State Police have two helicopters based at Joint Base Andrews).
 
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misskarne said:
  • They do not believe the behaviour of the helicopter was unusual
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This part is shocking to me, and I'd like to understand more. Why the heck was the helicopter allowed to get so close to the plane, and what happened that it crashed into the plane? Pilot error? Wind? Why are training flights being done in one of the most complicated airspaces in the US? How much training did the pilot have before being sent out? I have so many questions and am struggling to understand the news reporting this as nothing unusual, a normal flight path, etc.

The UK news has said that the US military aircraft have broader latitude with ATC, far more than commercial flights do (and far more than UK military aircraft has with UK ATC). It sounded like ATC is more of a suggestion than a directive? Which seems nuts to me in a place like DCA.

The news has claimed that this type of crash could not have happened in the UK due to our ATC policies. (Sorry for no link; I've been reading many sources plus listening to the news, and I'm in kind of a haze over this news, so I'm not sure exactly where I read/heard this.) If that's the case, I hope the US adopts stricter policies because this seems senseless, preventable, and scary.

ETA: Just saw Misskarne's post from two minutes ago, which proposes answers to some of these questions. Thanks for that.
 
If there were 14 skaters on the plane, then between them, their parents and coaches, more than half the manifest were skater related. 67 people lost their lives and all of them had family who lost a parent(s), sibling, spouse or friend. The only consolation is the people on the plane had no time to be frightened. The collision took seconds and looking at the video, the debris was in the water in less than 20 seconds. The fuselage of the plane was apparently in 3 parts. I always think about terror being a victim's last thoughts and I hope that wasn't the case for all the passengers. It was for the helicopter crew and possibly the jet pilot and copilot and I grieve for them.
 
misskarne said:
The flight was switched to land on 33 quite late in the piece, and was the only plane to be approaching that runway in some time. It seems the helicopter may have missed that they were on approach for 33 and when asked if traffic was in sight thought the departing plane from the other runway was the traffic.

I am sure the NTSB will produce a better summary but that seems to be the most popular (sensible) theory among aviation people thus far.
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You can see the lights from the plane that took off just prior to the collision and it was traveling away from the flight path of the helicopter who was traveling parallel to the river. I suspect this was the plane the pilot of the helicopter saw. The AA jet was already making their approach to the runway and may well have not been visible to the helicopter until it was too late.
 
PRlady said:
Everyone who flies into Reagan and lands north to south wonders in terror if they’re going to land in the river, it’s worse than Logan or LaGuardia according to pilots.

OTOH you get an amazing view of the famous monuments.
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I often get that kind of feeling when landing at SFO airport.

Turned on tv this morning. No survivors. I always hope for a miracle when a tragedy like this happens.

CNN showed the conversation between control tower and the helicopter. Heli requested visual after being told there was a plane near them (do you see it?)

Later I saw an article that skaters and coaches from a Massachusetts skating club were on the plane. :(
 
My heart goes out to the dead and their families. Can you imagine being told you are going to land in 5-10 minutes and you suddenly find yourself dead? It could happen to anyone. Very sad. :(
 
I woke up about 2 a.m. and the crash was on breaking news. I was half asleep when the reporter said that several figure skaters including their families and coaches were on the plane. What I don't understand is that the American Airlines pilot and the pilot of the military helicopter said they could see each other. This is so devastating.

My heartfelt prayers go out to Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov and their family, coaches and other Russian citizens that were on the plane and also to the other figure skaters that haven't been named yet.

This is from CBS News.

www.cbsnews.com

U.S. and Russian figure skaters were on plane that crashed in D.C.

Top figure skaters from the United States and Russia were on board the plane that crashed in Washington, D.C., after colliding with a military helicopter.
www.cbsnews.com www.cbsnews.com
 
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People on the Airliners.net forum are saying that the helicopter was twice as high as it should have been. I’m sure the investigation will look into that.

If this tragedy finally gets the FAA to redesign the DCA airspace and its rules, at least their deaths won’t be in vain. It’s so so awful.
 
OMG! I just read that Shishkova and Naumov were among those killed. I loved their skating. Saw them skate live at Skate America in Dallas. Their son Maxim is now an orphan! How awful!
 
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There is a lot of restricted airspace around DC. You have planes and helicopters concentrated into limited airspace. Congress recently voted to increase the number of flights out of Reagan National Airport. It is a very profitable airport for airlines.
 
OrioleBeagle said:
There is a lot of restricted airspace around DC. You have planes and helicopters concentrated into limited airspace. Congress recently voted to increase the number of flights out of Reagan National Airport. It is a very profitable airport for airlines.
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My sister flies into DCA a lot for work with a federal government department. It’s so much closer to DC than the alternatives. I can’t imagine Congress (whose members also use it a lot) would vote to reduce flights there. Shutting it down was even on the table once, to clear out the airspace more, and I definitely can’t imagine them going for it.
 
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