American Airlines CRJ-700 collides with helicopter near Reagan National

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superchuck500 said:
Did it not originate at Langley?
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It did but flight trackers show it originating in a neighborhood north of Langley. The likely reason for this is that the aircraft didn’t have ADS-B for tracking. Instead it’s using Mode-S. Flight trackers use a triangulation method called MLAT to track flights like PAT25 (the blackhawk’s callsign). However this method isn’t nearly as accurate as ADS-B.

Conspiracy theorists are saying the flight originated from the Saudi embassy, north of Langley. I’m not sure if the embassy is actually located there, I don’t really care either. I just know people will do all kinds of things to either profit or gain attention over other people’s misery.
 
superchuck500 said:
Pretty much exactly what you said.

The knowledge and experience that we have on this board never ceases to amaze me.

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I think it’s a little funny that they’re quoting Brad Bowman. He was also at 12th AVN. I believe he was in Alpha Co.. He got there a little before I got my DD214 so I didn’t really know him. I just knew of him. The poor guy was flying medivacs to and from the Pentagon during 9-11.
 
Rickboy said:
I think it’s a little funny that they’re quoting Brad Bowman. He was also at 12th AVN. I believe he was in Alpha Co.. He got there a little before I got my DD214 so I didn’t really know him. I just knew of him. The poor guy was flying medivacs to and from the Pentagon during 9-11.
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Really interesting stuff. Thanks for sharing. :9:
 
I can state from personal experience that piloting an aircraft at night is a completely different animal than daytime flying. When you add to total 'blackness' of the water mixed with the contrasting city lights over the land areas, it only adds to the potential for mental disorientation. The closest I ever came to perishing in flight was on a night flight over Lake Pontchartrain after departing MSY with about a 1000ft cloud ceiling. The brain is easily confused in those instances.

But there will be a lot more to investigate in this crash than just the nighttime conditions (which was obviously clear skies based on all the distant video recordings of the incident at the time of impact). Two things that were a least a factor in the crash appears to be the vague instructions from the ATC to the helicopter pilot. Generally such instructions will include a 'clock position' of where the pilot should be focused when looking for traffic. Also for whatever reason the helicopter pilot should never have been at any altitude that would cause him to intersect with the glideslope to that runway. At the very least the transmission of instructions to the helicopter pilot should have concluded with something similar to: "Descend and maintain 200 feet until clear of the terminal control area". (Unless that area has obstructions that were at least that high)

If the flight of the helicopter was truly a training flight, then the visual reference would have appeared to be very close to the surface of the river. He would have been quite happy to fly the higher altitude if he was focused on a different aircraft than the one the ATC had intended him to be looking out for. Sadly this area has very narrow flight corridors due to the number of 'no fly zones' in the area. The ATC has no idea what the skill level is of the PIC in the helicopter. And being such a clear evening it's not hard to imagine why he may have assumed the helicopter was visually locked on to the approaching jet. However, once an ATC issues an instruction and he gets an affirmative reply, he assumes the pilot will carry out the instructions and he turns his attention to other traffic concerns.

The fault will likely be placed on the helicopter pilot for not maintaining separation during the flight. But there will obviously be several other contributing factors. Now we wait for the final report. :cry:
 
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superchuck500 said:
This is a very good summary - and has a lot of info on the helo flight including its radio comms.

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The Blancolirio Channel on YouTube does a good job of answering questions very early on after aviation incidents like these. He did help me to understand a lot about the potential hazards during that helicopter flight including the use of the night flying goggles by the crew. From what I'm gathering the route and altitude taken by the helicopter flight crew was not as published on the aeronautical charts which put his aircraft in the direct path of the approaching regional jet. Had he hugged the east bank of the Potomac River at the published altitude of 200ft, he would easily have flown below the RJ on his final approach. Whatever his reason for climbing and flying more toward the centerline of the river may never be known. But it was a decision that cost him and 66 other people their lives. Had those restrictions been maintained, we would never have heard this news and all would [still] be right in the aviation world.
 
This is what happens when you try to use magnets to lift planes. It doesn't work.
 

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