XPost: alt.airports, rec.aviation.military, rec.travel.air   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns, sac.politics   
   From: democrat-insurrection@mail.house.gov   
      
   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.”   
      
      
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