It's a very sad day for me. That Blackhawk is from Bravo Company in the 12th AVN BN. That's my old battalion and company. I've flown that route numerous times either back and forth to Langley or a few other sites. We also fly a similar route to get to the Pentagon. This is one of the newer VH-60s that my unit started receiving just as I was leaving the Army. They're really nice on the inside.
12th AVN is a VIP helicopter unit that carries Generals and other dignitaries around the Military District of Washington. We were also responsible for evacuating Congress in the event of an attack. Most of the pilots are highly experienced. We had a lot of CW3 to CW5 warrant officers flying our birds. If there was a WO1 or CW2 flying, there was almost always a CW4 or higher in command. The crew chiefs are usually an E4 or higher rank with a pretty good amount of experience.
So a few things that have gotten my attention are the altitude of the 'hawk and the use of NVGs. When we fly that route, we are as low as 100' above the Potomac. You can see from the video that the 'hawk started climbing before the accident. I have no idea what was going on in the pilots mind at that time. I'm guessing there was some confusion with ATC's command to maintain visual seperation (totally normal) and the pilot was looking at the wrong aircraft when the accident happened but that doesn't explain the altitude gain.
On NVGs, I get that this was a training mission and likely a check ride but never once in my 5 years at 12th AVN did we use NVGs around Reagan National. We did NVG training a good distance away from there, usually at Ft AP Hill. There is zero need for NVGs around Reagan. Everything is very well lit and NVGs are way too restrictive. They basically give you tunnel vision, taking way any peripheral site. This can be overcome by having your crew chief maintain visual scanning around the area. In a Huey, the crewchief can easily move around to see out the left or right. but the crew member seats in a Hawk are facing towards the sides. Most times, the crew chief is seated on the left, behind the co-pilot. That would have him looking away from the direction the oncoming airliner was coming from. If they had two crew members scanning, I think this may have been avoided. Beyond that NVGs should have never been used on that flight to begin with. I suspect there will be a policy change on that when all is said an done.