Potomac Plane Crash

[BertieWooster]

Multiple sources are reporting a collision between an American Airlines CRJ and a military helicopter over the Potomac River in Washington DC.

NBC News link: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/live-blog/liv...

It sounds like both aircraft ended up in the river.

There's footage on X of what appears to be the actual collision.

[fly by wire]

Just showed it on Sky News also, looks like a bad one.

It looked like the chopper t-boned the plane.

[Good Plan Ted]

64 dead

https://news.sky.com/story/passenger-plane-in-mid-...

[The Moose]

Terrible incident. Training flight apparently.

[The Moose]

This is believed to be the helicopter flight path:

[blueg33]

Terrible.

Surprised it could happen. If the heli was on a training flight what was it doing anywhere near a just commercial flight path?

[Lefty]

Busiest runway in the US with 800 landings or takeoffs per day. Must be a hugely complex task for the ATC.

[The Moose]

Does ACAS work plane to helicopter?

[blueg33]

Lefty said:

Busiest runway in the US with 800 landings or takeoffs per day. Must be a hugely complex task for the ATC.

Which is why the military helicopter shouldn’t have been near the flight path.

[Lefty]

With that many flights I’d imagine it’s impossible to fly anywhere near DC without being close to other aircraft. And that’s just Reagan, Dulles is busy AF too.

[blueg33]

Lefty said:

With that many flights I’d imagine it’s impossible to fly anywhere near DC without being close to other aircraft. And that’s just Reagan, Dulles is busy AF too.

Agreed. So I question the necessity for what is said to be a training flight, to be in the area

[Crumpet]

The Moose said:

Does ACAS work plane to helicopter?

TCAS does. But below certain altitudes the Resolution Advisories are inhibited so it might not have provided any corrective action.

They love their visual approaches and circling to other runways in the US because ATC can reduce their separation. So they will get you to confirm you’ve got relevant traffic in sight (like the aircraft ahead of you, or one crossing in front or behind you) and leave you to it. Problem is when it’s night and you’ve got the wrong traffic in sight…..

[Byker28i]

Just a week after the WH put a hiring freeze in, sacked people and boasted about safety
https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/01/fac...

There’s already a major shortage of air traffic controllers and they are now getting resignation offers from OPM

No sympathy given



Vance was better

[Prolex-UK]

Looks like a bad one.

[Byker28i]

There's more from NBC here:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/live-blog/liv...

plus this claims to have a tape of transmission from the tower at the time
https://fallows.substack.com/p/it-had-been-16-year...

WSJ saying the usual task was to carry VIP's but it was a training flight with none on board
https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/plane-crash-dc-re...


12 bodies recovered so far, doesn't look good.
https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/live-upda...

It's being reported the last fatal crash was 2009 for a US commercial aircraft

Edited by Byker28i on Thursday 30th January 06:25

[Byker28i]

Quite a lot of comments on twitter/X along the lines of “DEI pilots or DEI air traffic controllers?” FFS!

This after the head of TSA was just fired, along with the entire Aviation Security Advisory Committee mandated by Congress, and a hiring freeze on FAA air traffic controllers, when they are already short
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-aviation-safe...


“Members of Aviation Security Advisory Committee received a memo Tues saying that the dept is eliminating the membership of all advisory committees as part of a “commitment to eliminating misuse of resources & ensuring that DHS activities prioritize our national security”
https://apnews.com/article/coast-guard-homeland-se...

Edited by Byker28i on Thursday 30th January 06:33

[Byker28i]

There's a post with the playback from the official Air Traffic Control on the crash between the military Black Hawk helicopter and the American Airlines airplane landing at Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C.
https://bsky.app/profile/artcandee.bsky.social/pos...

[Byker28i]

Reports of 4 survivors, with the plane split in two under 7 feet of water
https://www.the-express.com/news/us-news/162059/fi...

[BrettMRC]

Incredible there are any survivors at all really!

[Petrus1983]

60 passengers and 4 crew on the aircraft - 3 crew on the helicopter. The video of the crash is horrific.

I hope there's survivors but it would be a miracle - I'm watching a live news feed and it looks Baltic out there.