WASHINGTON, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Scores of people were feared dead after an American Airlines regional passenger jet with 64 people on board and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter collided and crashed into the frigid Potomac River near Reagan Washington National Airport.
Officials provided no death toll from Wednesday night's collision but U.S. Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas, from where the flight was traveling, suggested most if not all those on board had been killed.
"It's really hard when you lose probably over 60 Kansans simultaneously," he told a press conference at Reagan airport in the U.S. capital early on Thursday.
"When one person dies, it's a tragedy, but when many, many, many people die, it's an unbearable sorrow. It's a heartbreak beyond measure."
American Airlines confirmed 60 passengers and four crew members were aboard the jet. The helicopter, on a training flight, was carrying three soldiers, a U.S. official said.
Ex-VFR pilot here. I know enough to sit in judgement over this situation because it's crystal clear.
As is standard practice in this very congested airspace, the helicopter pilot asked for clearance to cross the regional jet's approach for landing using visual seperation. The ATC controller confirmed that the helicopter pilot had visual contact with the regional jet, then granted clearance.
The regional jet cannot maneuver for visual seperation while on approach for landing. It was entirely the helicopter pilot's responsibility to maintain seperation with the regional jet. The collision is entirely the helicopter pilot's fault.
Basically, the military just killed a bunch of civilians because they failed to do something that any pilot with an IFR license is regularly expected to do.
My question is: why the hell was there a military training flight in the approach path of a major airport to begin with? Were the myriad of military airports and restricted military-only airspace all around DC not good enough for them?
Because when you’re whole job is flying vip’s around DC at night, it helps to actually fly the route you’re being trained to fly at some point.
As for why the heavily used helicopter route goes right beneath the approach path, that’s because people mapped out all the routes helicopters can fly without going through restricted airspace, and along the river is one of the most useful of them, same reason as the runway’s approach path follows the river.