On Wednesday, a jet, American Eagle Flight No. 5342, with 60 passengers and four crew members collided with an Army helicopter while moving towards Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, D.C. This plane had taken off from Wichita, Kansas on the same day.
The helicopter was a training flight and belonged to B Company, 12th Aviation Battalion out of Fort Belvoir in Virginia, Joint Task Force. One air traffic control person was maintaining the helicopter and some planes from the Reagan National Airport to the water during the collision; this work is generally done by two people.
A live stream camera at the Kennedy Center in Washington captures the moment of the accident. It shows an explosion in the areas near the Potomac River.
A minute before the jet was about to land, the air traffic controllers asked the American Airlines flight if it could do so on a shorter runway. The pilots agreed with the controllers. The air traffic controllers quickly cleared the jet to land and flight tracking sites directed the plane to adjust its approach towards a new runway.
Within 30 seconds before the accident, an air traffic controller asked the helicopter if it had the plane in sight. The controller did a radio call again to the helicopter moments later. He said, “PAT 25 passed behind the CRJ, telling the helicopter to wait for the Bombardier CRJ-701 twin-engine jet to cross. But he did not get any reply from the other side and the aircraft collided a few seconds later. All 67 people aboard an American Eagle flight from Kansas and an Army helicopter were killed in the tragedy.
The wreckage of the helicopter was found in the river. A statement has been released by the NTSB office that they are working to recover the data recording equipment from both aircraft.
The cause of the accident is still not clear. Federal investigators are doing their best to piece together the moment before the accident, including any communication between the aircraft.
One air traffic controller was coordinating with the helicopter traffic and the arrival and departure of planes when this collision happened. “The task is generally assigned to two individuals in the tower, so the staffing wasn’t normal,” according to the reports.
Further, as per the report published in the New York Times, an internal preliminary Federal Administration, the report was not normal as per the time of the day and volume of traffic.
D.C. Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly said that this is a complex operation, and the conditions are extremely rough for the responders. The team is dealing with relatively windy conditions.
President Donald Trump addressed the crash during a briefing at the White House, and he confirmed that there were no survivors.
The Biggest U.S. Commerical Crash in 16 Years
Last time, the major U.S. commercial air crash happened in 2009 when a Continental Airlines flight out of Newark crashed into a house as it was approaching the airport in Buffalo. In that tragedy, 49 people died. One year later, Continental merged with United Airlines.