How did the DC plane crash happen? Experts tell The Post what may have caused the accident

https://nypost.com/2025/01/30/us-news/how-did-the-dc-crash-happen-experts-
reveal-what-may-have-caused-deadly-collision/

WASHINGTON — A short runway and intersecting flight paths with 
precariously close altitude requirements may have played a role in 
Wednesday night’s deadly collision of an American Airlines plane and a US 
Army Black Hawk helicopter near Ronald Reagan National Airport, experts 
told The Post.

Officials have not yet provided any causal information behind the crash — 
the deadliest aviation disaster in the US in more than two decades — but 
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Thursday that the tragedy was 
“absolutely” preventable.

The Post spoke to several aviation experts about a number of factors that 
may have contributed to the fatal collision.

Originally built to shuffle VIPs into the nation’s capital on private or 
government jets, Reagan is a smaller airport and the only one physically 
in the district.

With a runway nearly half as long as the standard 13,000-foot runways of 
other airports built to accommodate large commercial jets, landing is 
tricky for incoming planes, according to former DC-based American Airlines 
pilot John Wright.

“The first few times you fly there, you usually are with [a fellow pilot] 
who’s really experienced. He’s kind of talking through it, too,” Wright 
told The Post.

“Where you land on [runways] that are 13,000 feet long, you’ve got plenty 
of room to play with. But at [Reagan] it’s only 7,000 feet.”

The shorter runway makes the descent difficult, creating the need for 
pilots to be intensely focused, he said.

Air traffic controller audio captured operators warning the military 
helicopter that it was getting close to American Airlines Flight 5342 and 
directing it to pass behind the passenger plane, which would have had the 
right of way for the trickier landing.

“It’s such a challenging airport to land a jet airplane at your focus is 
really on your airspeed, your altitude, your rate of descent,” he said, 
adding that “the last thing you’re looking for is to see if somebody’s 
crossing in your path.”

Still, he insisted, “it’s totally possible to operate safely at Reagan 
International — I did it for 50 years, of course.”

In addition to the shorter runway, intersecting flight paths with close 
altitude requirements could have also played a role in the tragedy.

There are two flight paths — one for helicopters and another for airplanes 
— that converge near the Reagan airport, according to an official flight 
map.

Follow the NYP’s coverage of the deadly DC plane collision

Military chopper, plane collision over DC was ‘absolutely’ preventable, 
new transportation boss says — as officials confirm no survivors expected
Air traffic controller’s reaction to DC collision revealed in chilling 
audio: ‘Crash, crash, crash, this is an alert three’
DC chopper, plane crash live updates: No survivors expected after AA 
flight collides with military helicopter in deadliest US crash since 2009
Timeline of air traffic controllers issuing warnings before American 
Airlines plane, Black Hawk helicopter collision in DC
Trump says collision between American Airlines jet and Army helicopter 
‘looks like it should have been prevented’ 
Helicopters are directed to fly no higher than 200 feet in their path, 
while airplanes should be at roughly 500 feet, aircraft aviation attorney 
and former pilot Jim Brauchle told The Post.

“That approach to that runway, the commercial aircraft published approach, 
is to basically fly down the east side of the [Potomac] river and then 
about a mile and a half from the touchdown, the aircraft would make this 
50-degree turn to go land,” he said.

“And when it makes that turn, it’s just under 500 feet, and then obviously 
it’s going to descend,” he explained.

“Well, there’s also a helicopter route that goes right down the river 
that’s at or below 200 feet. And so you’ve got intersecting routes that 
are apparently de-conflicted by, you know, only several hundred feet — 
which is not a lot of room for a margin of error.”

What’s more, Federal Aviation Administration rules allow pilots a standard 
75-foot deviation from the prescribed altitudes, which could potentially 
drop that margin even lower, Brauchle said.

“Hypothetically … that’s a 150-foot difference,” he said.

“If there’s only initially going to be about a 200-foot separation, that 
gets the [airplane and helicopter] within 50 feet of each other.”

Wright said the helicopter regardless “should not have been crossing the 
flight path at any altitude at that time.”

“Somehow something broke down between the helicopter’s clearance to be 
there and air traffic control tower,” the former pilot surmised.

“It’s kind of seems like a very preventable accident that shouldn’t have 
happened if normal procedures were followed.”


-- 
November 5, 2024 - Congratulations President Donald Trump.  We look 
forward to America being great again.

The disease known as Kamala Harris has been effectively treated and 
eradicated.

We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that 
stupid people won't be offended.

Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem.  It has none.

Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden 
fiasco, President Trump.  

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the 
The World According To Garp.  Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood 
queer liberal democrat donors.