Washington – Washington, an airspace around DC, is congested and complex – a combination has long been worried by aviation experts, which can cause havoc.
On Wednesday night, the apprehensions were revealed when an American airline aircraft collided with a military helicopter, killing 67 people, including three soldiers and more than a dozen figure skates.
Even in the event of extreme flight, experts said, the airspace around Reagan Washington National Airport can challenge the most experienced pilots that have hundreds of other commercial aircraft, military aircraft and restricted areas around sensitive sites. Have to navigate.
“It was waiting for a disaster to be a disaster,” Ross Emerar said, a retired United Airlines captain and Chief Executive Officer of Aero Consulting Experts. “Those of us who have been almost for a long time are shouting in a vacuum that something will happen because our systems are spread to extreme.”
There was no immediate word on the cause of the collision, but officials said the flight situation was clear as Jet Witchita came from Kansas. Investigators have started investigating every aspect of the accident, including the question as to why the Army Black Hawk Holikopter was 100 feet above its permissible height and whether the air traffic control towers were properly staffed. A federal aviation administration report received by the Associated Press “is not normal for the time of day and traffic.”
As the authorities have kept the country’s most deadly American airline accident together since 2001, the tragedy has expressed new concerns about specific threats in Reagan National, which has seen a series of near-species in recent years. Experts and some MPs said that they are worried that the airspace is going to achieve more congestion in view of the Congress’s decision last year, in which to reduce the restrictions that the airport to the airport is within 1,250 miles of Washington with some exceptions Nonsstops were limited to flights.
MPs enabled Airlines to launch new routes for destinations such as Seattle and San Francisco. The plan winded up intensive debate about crowds versus convenience, in which some MLAs launched new flights in their home states, while others warned of potential tragedy. The flight on Wednesday was not part of the expansion. This was added by the American Airlines in January last year amidst a push for more service between Reagan National and Wichita by Kansas MPs by Kansas MPs.
Airlineer and helicopter in closeness
Commercial aircraft flying inside and outside the Reagan National have long struggled with military helicopters, detecting the same airspace within the same airs as well as proximity.
A former sailor of the US Air Force said, “If everyone is doing this, what are they doing, you are doing only a few hundred feet different aircraft and different between many helicopters along with that route – It is separated, “Jim Bruchle said, a former Air Force sailor said. And aviation attorney. “It does not leave an entire margin of error.”
The pilots have long warned of a “nightmare landscape” near the airport, which crosses the paths that cross commercial jetiner and military helicopters, especially at night when the city’s bright lighting aircrafts come more difficult at night Can make
The retired US Army National Guard Pilot Darrell Feller said that the deadly collision had experienced him a decade ago when he experienced a decade ago when he was flying a military helicopters south with the Potomac River near Reagan National.
An air traffic controller advised him to go on a lookout for jetliner landing at runway 3-3, an approach in which the aircraft shifted to the country’s capital to fly directly on the route used by military and law enforcement helicopters. Is required.
It is not easy to always spot airlines
Feller was unable to take out the jetiner against the city lights and cars on the nearby bridge. He immediately landed, skimming just 50 feet from water to ensure that descending jetliner would pass over it.
“I could not see him. I lost her in the light of the city, ”on Thursday, the Feller, who retired from the army in 2014, narrated it. “This scared me.”
Feller experience was similar to that experts said that they may be happy with the crew of the army helicopter before 9 pm on Wednesday because they flew south with Potomac and runway 3- An American Airlines flight at 3 collided with 5342 landing.
As American Airlines Jet approached the airport, air traffic controllers asked their pilots if they could land at 3-3 for a long time and 3-3 instead of a busy-north-south runway. Jet’s pilots changed their views, going to the eastern coast of Potomac before returning to the river at 3-3.
Less than 30 seconds before the accident, an air traffic controller asked the army helicopter if the American airlines aircraft was in sight, and the military pilot replied that it did. The controller then directed Black Hawk to pass behind the jet. After that last transmission, both aircraft collided in a fireball.
Feller, who served as an instructor pilot for the DC National Guard, said that he has several rules for new pilots to avoid such conflict. He warned them to stay under a 200-foot roof for helicopters. And they urged them to guard them for the aircraft landing at 3-3 as it could be difficult to spot them.
Those aircraft “landing lights are not directly indicated to you,” Feller said, those lights are also said that “mixed with ground lights with cars.”
Not the first such fatal accident
The Wednesday’s accident was reminiscent of a deadly collision in 1949, when there was a very low crowd in Washington airship. On the last approach, a passenger aircraft that now hit a military aircraft with Reagan Airport, submerged both aircraft into the Potomac River and killed 55 people. At that time, it was the deadliest air accident in America
A retired Jack Sconley of the helicopter pilot of the Los Angeles Police Department said that he is a passenger on a helicopter ride through DC and was always killed by how complicated for the pilots.
“You have found two big airports. You have found many restricted areas. You have been banned at height. Regular restrictions, and too much air traffic, ”he said. “A lot is going on in a tight area.”
Robert Clifford, an aviation lawyer, said that the US government should temporarily stop military helicopter flights in the airspace used by the commercial airlines near Reagan National.
Clifford said, “I can’t pay attention to how clearly it is that it was a stopped accident and it should never be.” “There has been a discussion for some time about the crowd and ability for the disaster associated with him. And we saw that it came home last night.