American Airlines CRJ-700 collides with helicopter near Reagan National

efil4stnias said

Just waking up to this. What a tragic disaster.
Have to anticipate the Blackhawk pilot had no idea was in approach vector for DCA.

The one thing I am struggling with is the post of flight path. (@DavidM ) as it appears the chopper turns directly into path of plane. Directionally, he was headed toward plane, meaning the landing lights would/should have been visible. Unless they meshed with lights from surroundings

Idk just a tragic result.

100 ft altitude difference and this is a near miss, not a collision. Damn

Click to expand...

At the time, it was my best attempt at making some sense of the recording. It could appear that the helicopter was approaching more directly from behind at a high speed, overtaking the plane, but it made more sense that they were crossing paths and speed and direction were deceptive. The plane would have been descending, so conceivably at an angle and an approach that either the helicopter pilot didn’t have a clear sightline of or missed it amid the lights and distractions of an urban setting. All guesswork, of course, trying to make sense of what is on the video.