AUSTIN, Texas — An investigation is underway into what caused a U.S. Army helicopter and a passenger plane to crash mid-air near Washington D.C.’s Reagan National Airport on Wednesday night, killing the 64 people who were on the plane and the three that were on the helicopter.
The disaster has shaken the aviation industry during its safest period in history.
It is the first deadly crash of a commercial airliner in the United States since a regional jet crashed while landing in Buffalo, killing all 49 aboard in 2009. An investigation determined that the captain accidentally caused the plane to stall as it approached the airport in Buffalo.
Mike Slack, an aviation attorney and pilot with experience flying into Reagan National Airport, said flying through that busy, highly restricted air corridor is like threading a needle.
“It’s so dense and heavily, heavily concentrated with aircraft. You’ve got civilian aircraft, you’ve got military aircraft, you’ve got military helicopters, you got military jets, you have passenger jets, you’ve got Dulles traffic, and then you have overflight traffic. Then you’ve got all the issues related to Andrews Air Force Base and Air Force One and support of the President and Vice President so it’s complicated,” Slack said. “When you go into Reagan, you’re very busy. It’s an unusual approach over the Potomac with a sudden turn, and you’re trying to fly the airplane and watch for traffic at the same time.”
The American flight from Wichita, Kansas, was cleared for landing after a last-minute but routine runway change. As the jet approached the runway, the Army helicopter was on its usual path for standard night training.
“When a passenger jet is descending to land into Reagan, the danger zone is at a lower altitude as it descends into the area and altitudes where the helicopter operates,” Slack said. “Anytime that airplane starts approaching from 1,500 feet above ground level and down, then the passenger jet is entering that zone of danger with the helicopters.”
Aviation is dangerous, and there are constant perils around every turn, but collisions like this, particularly ones involving airlines, are rare.
“It just takes one thing or two things, to set in motion the erosion of safety margins. Sometimes those margins are very thin,” Slack said. “In high dense airspace like Reagan, those margins of safety need all the help they can get, but you chip away at it a little bit, and next thing you know, you have a mid-air collision.”
Part of the challenge Slack said has to do with air space management, which is complex because of the wide array of aircraft. In addition to military aircraft and airliners, there are cargo aircraft and a large population of civilian aircraft.
“Military aircraft do not have the same GPS reporting information that we as civilian aircraft have to have. Those are systems that you won’t find on military aircraft,” Slack said. “In all probability, the helicopter did not have GPS position reporting information to the other aircraft and the controller. The jet would have had that equipment in terms of its position but may not have had it as to the military helicopter.”
Slack said there needs to be some way for civilian aircraft pilots to overhear what military pilots are saying to air traffic controllers. Military aircraft operate on UHF frequencies, which are much higher than the VHF frequencies that civilian aircraft use.
“I can hear the controller, but I cannot hear the responses of the military aircraft over the same frequency that I’m on, and that’s just concerning to a pilot because I want to know if the other pilot acknowledges seeing me,” Slack said. “I want to know if the pilot acknowledges that I’m on final approach and he needs to hold short of the runway.”
The American air travel system has been under increasing stress in recent years. These stresses have been on display in a series of near tragedies, including in Austin, as flashing red warning signs of the risk of a significant mid-air collision with several near misses at airports throughout the United States. Austin-Bergstrom International Airport has had a series of recent scares at the airport, with at least half a dozen close calls at Austin’s airport in recent years. Most significantly, a FedEx cargo plane and a Southwest Airlines flight nearly collided and came within 200 feet of each other in February 2023.
The FedEx pilot eventually did a “go-around” to avoid a crash and avert a possible catastrophe, saving the lives of 131 people by flying up, turning around in the other direction, and landing on a clear runway.
Investigators say air traffic control cleared both pilots to use the runway. Investigators told the NTSB that weather was a big problem that morning, with dense fog reducing visibility.
“The only difference between a near miss and a mid-air collision is there’s a slight difference in time and slight difference in position,” Slack said. “When those two differences disappear, you have a mid-air collision.”
In October, a smaller Cessna R182 got in the flight path of an American Airlines flight as it was preparing to land at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. The two planes were only separated by about 400 feet as the American Airlines flight almost passed directly over the Cessna.
“It happened in DCA last night. It could happen in Austin next week,” Slack said. “It may not happen in Austin next week, but over the last five years, we’ve seen that the ingredients for near misses have been present in the Austin airspace. That means it can happen here.”
The February 2023 near miss in Austin was one of ten that prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to examine the issue and recommend solutions. A November 2023 report recommended increasing air traffic control staffing, continued FAA safety oversight, and investing in new airport technology.
“We may have a great system, but we have known deficiencies. Until we correct those known deficiencies, we don’t have the system we deserve,” Slack said. “We have known deficiencies that will continue to contribute to the risk of ground collisions and air collisions, and we need to fix those problems.”
Austin’s airport has been addressing some of these safety issues with the help of the 2024 FAA Reauthorization Act. The law brings $105 billion in FAA funding and secures the organization’s operations for another five years.
After the February 2023 near miss, the airport added surface detection equipment, which the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) doesn’t require. The equipment tracks aircraft movement and determines their proximity to ground equipment, helping the controller see through things like fog.
The airport recently installed a modern tower simulation system to help train air traffic controllers. The FAA is also trying to recruit more controllers to help fill the shortage at Austin’s airport.
Congressman Lloyd Doggett has said the control tower in Austin is struggling to keep staffing at half the level recommended by the FAA. When asked if he could reassure Americans that the US has the safest airspace in the world, newly sworn-in Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said he could.
“Can I guarantee the American flying public that the United States has the most safe and secure airspace in the world? And the answer to that is, absolutely yes, we do,” he said.
The NTSB does not know exactly what caused the crash over the Potomac River. The Federal Aviation Administration said one air traffic controller was working two positions at the time of the crash, which was “not normal” for the time of day or the volume of traffic at the airport. NTSB investigators are on the scene, recovering evidence and deciphering how this happened.
Duffy promised a thorough inquiry.
“We will not rest until we have answers for the families and for the flying public. You should be assured that when you fly you’re safe,” Duffy said.