On the DC midair accident — I’m a certificated commercial pilot and accredited master flight instructor, here’s my take:
The entire reason the airspace and air traffic controllers exist is to separate traffic. This is the entire basis of our air traffic control system (NAS),… pic.twitter.com/Y54HAmkGYK
— Chris Palmer (@ChristheAV8R) January 30, 2025
On the DC midair accident — I’m a certificated commercial pilot and accredited master flight instructor, here’s my take:
The entire reason the airspace and air traffic controllers exist is to separate traffic. This is the entire basis of our air traffic control system (NAS), and even the whole reason why the FAA itself was originally developed initially.
It is not uncommon for air traffic control to clear aircraft above a runway with landing IFR traffic, like we see in this case with the airliner landing, even at a busy Class B (busiest) airspace.
Often aircraft control will ask the VFR (visual flight rules) & more maneuverable aircraft, in this case to helicopter, to see and avoid the other aircraft.
This being a military flight by the helicopter, and an IFR flight by a professional airline crew with the regional jet, the controller’s build a certain amount of trust with these pilots and trust them when they say they’ll do what they say they’ll do.
That said, the core cause of accidents in aviation is human error. For the most part, that is on the part of the pilots. Air traffic control misguidance can and does happen, but not as often as pilots.
This is not a knock on pilots, simply a fact of aviation safety. It is the entire reason why it takes a tremendous amount of training, practice, and experience through hours flown to become a professional pilot.
What I think happened in this case:
In this case air traffic control calls out to the helicopter and ask them if they see the regional jet. In this case, they called them an RJ, for shorthand.
The helicopter confirms that they see the RJ and will pass behind as instructed.
But human error, being a main cause, it’s highly likely that the helicopter crew saw the departing regional jet, which can also be seen in this video, with this landing light climbing up from the runway.
Misidentifying this aircraft that was further to the right or starboard of the helicopter, they indeed thought they were passing behind that regional jet with plenty of room to spare.
What they didn’t know, with their eyes turned to the right, was that there was an aircraft approaching them from the left. The one that they were actually supposed to be looking for.
To the airliner, and to any aircraft on a collision course, they can often be impossible to see. Especially considering this was at night, and at low altitude, the anti-collision lights on the helicopter could have easily been lost in the bright lights of the city in the background of the helicopter from the airliners perspective.
With the helicopter pilots looking to the right at the wrong regional jet, and the regional jet that was on final, the one that was hit, looking straight ahead at their landing spot, both pilots had a blind spot and weren’t looking in the correct direction.
Unfortunately, these things can and do happen. It’s yet another reminder that aviation safety is of the utmost importance, and any confusion at any time when operating in Aircraft should be clarified with air traffic control.
Please feel free to ask me anything you want, and any clarification, and I’ll be happy to give it as I can.
I’ll be happy to help with media inquiries as well.
Prayers for all involved.
What about the altitude going from 200′ to 350′ …. is that truth or not? Is it true there were Russian skaters on the plane? Could some psycho be stirring the pot? Just asking….
My husband is a pilot. There are no radio comms between commercial aircraft on VHF & military aircraft on UHF. They can’t talk to each other and they can’t hear each other. Here they couldn’t see each other either. When I saw the video I thought the same as Mr. Palmer, low altitude & all the lights & the departing plane. From the audio it sounds like ATC should have directed the copter instead of asking him if he saw the plane. Had ATC already given the copter the coordinates & direction of the incoming? My husband called it: confusion.
With all due respect to Mr Palmer who I know is a far more experienced pilot than I am. In my view the controller misled the Helicopter pilot, (not deliberately). In stead of asking the Helicopter pilot if he saw the regional aircraft, the controller should have been more concise and said, “do you see the regional aircraft on short final to your left”. This left the helicopter pilot believing that there was only one regional aircraft to be aware of and he did see one climbing out to his right farther away that he acknowledged. This also distracted him by causing to to look to the right where he did see a regional aircraft. Had the controller either asked if he saw “2” regional aircraft or added to the singular warning, “to your left on short final” the collision might have been avoided.
Now there’s a release of the audio control tower two way conversation with the airliner. Whike the helo was talked to directing to immediately change its position and course, the pilot never replied to the controller.