CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Following a fatal crash between an American Eagle jet and a U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopter in D.C., experts noted that Reagan National — and the country — have a strong safety record. But they also acknowledged flying into Reagan is no easy task.
“It’s such a congested area there for one reason, and the runways are short,” said George Cline, a retired air traffic controller. “The runway he was landing on is only 5,200 feet long, and it’s a very short runway… you got so many helicopters there, if you’ve ever flown and you look around, all you see is airplanes and helicopters going up and down the Potomac.”
From the recordings he listened to, Cline said it seemed like FAA controllers did everything they were supposed to. They told both the military helicopter and regional jet they were close to one another, and for the helicopter to maintain its distance.
“It was nighttime, you know, you can see the lights on the CRJ (jet), but you know the way it looks like he impacted him from behind, just by looking in the video, he may never have saw him,” he added.
Aviation attorney Jim Brauchle said he was shocked to learn of the crash, but not necessarily surprised.
“In recent history, even though the U.S. has enjoyed a good safety record like you said over the last fifteen years, there have been some close calls and near misses.”
Brauchle said with the NTSB handling the investigation into what went wrong on Wednesday night, the expectation is that agency will identify action that can be taken to prevent a similar tragedy in the future.
“They’ll find what the probable cause of the accident was and then they also list safety recommendations on what they learned coming out of this and things that could be changed,” said Brauchle.
With the seriousness of the crash, investigators could choose to release initial findings in a few months but the entire investigation could take a year and a half to complete.
