On Wednesday night, a collision between a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines plane in the vicinity of Reagan National Airport, on the outskirts of Washington DC, left a total of 67 dead. U.S. President Donald Trump said at a press conference that the military helicopter was in an «incredibly bad» position.
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The first indications of the magnitude of the incident come from the audio recording of air traffic control (ATC), where the interactions prior to the collision can be heard.
In the log, a controller instructs American Airlines Flight 5342 to «take runway 33.» The pilot, at the helm of a Bombardier CRJ-700 operated by PSA Airlines and referred to simply as «CRJ,» confirms that he can proceed. Seconds later, the controller heads to the helicopter UH-60 Black Hawk.
According to the available information, there was no response on that. However, the authorities explained that the helicopter apparently responded through a different channel, usually used by military aircraft Approximately 40 seconds later, ground control personnel alerted the control tower with the exclamation:
The tower, in turn, confirms that it observed the incident. Seconds later, emergency maneuvers are heard to divert other flights:
«Everyone hold their positions on the field right now.»
Subsequently, the same controller informs the rescue services that both aircraft have rushed towards the Potomac River, near the approach to runway 33:
«Fire command. The accident occurred in the river. Both the helicopter and the plane crashed into the river… approached runway 33.»
Reagan National Airport reported clear skies, 10-mile (16-kilometer) visibility and winds gusting to 26 mph (42 km/h) at the time. The temperature was around 50 °F (10 °C). These weather conditions, in principle, were not particularly complicated for the air operation.
The U.S. Army confirmed that the UH-60 helicopter, belonging to Bravo Company of the 12th Aviation Battalion based at Fort Belvoir, was conducting a training flight. For its part, American Airlines reported that several people were traveling on the plane, including some prominent figure skating figures, of Russian and American nationalities.
The plane crash becomes the first serious accident involving a U.S. commercial flight since 2009, when Colgan Air Flight 3407 crashed near Buffalo International Airport in New York, killing 49 people on the plane and one on the ground.