A collision between a passenger jet and U.S. Army helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport late Wednesday marked the first time in more than 15 years that there had been a mass fatality event in U.S. airspace related to commercial aviation.
The accident, which killed a reported 67 people, took place while American Airlines Flight 5342 was making its final approach to the runway. The Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet and the Sikorsky H-60, commonly known as a Black Hawk, collided only a few hundred meters above the ground, officials said.
The plane was carrying 60 passengers and four crew members. There were three service members aboard the military helicopter, including the pilot. Both aircraft crashed into the icy waters of the Potomac River, and authorities said Thursday that they didn't believe there were any survivors.
The accident took place in darkness at 8:47 p.m., and no significant weather problems were reported. As of Thursday, authorities had not identified the cause of the accident.
However, on Thursday, citing an "internal preliminary Federal Aviation Administration safety report" it reviewed, reported that staffing at the airport's air traffic control tower was "not normal" Wednesday night. The newspaper said a single air traffic controller was directing incoming and outgoing plane traffic as well as helicopter traffic in the area. Those jobs are usually split between two controllers.
Aviation experts said as tragic as the accident was, it should be considered an anomaly in an air traffic system that has been notably free of major disasters for many years.
"Some of it was luck. Some of it is technology. And mostly it was the tremendous job that the pilots and air traffic controllers do," former United Airlines pilot Captain Ross "Rusty" Aimer told VOA.
"They literally perform miracles every day because our system is extremely congested everywhere you go. ... And Washington National Airport is, perhaps in my 60 years in aviation, one of the most demanding and busiest airports in the world."
It is necessary to look back to 2009 to find a comparable commercial disaster in U.S. airspace. At that time, a Colgan Air jet en route from New Jersey to Buffalo, New York, stalled during its approach and crashed into a house, killing 49 passengers and crew, as well as one individual in the house.
In 2013, an Asiana Airlines jet crashed while landing in San Francisco, California. Two passengers who were not wearing seat belts were killed when they were thrown from the plane, and another person died after being struck by an emergency response vehicle on the tarmac. There were 187 other people who suffered injuries, many serious, but no other fatalities.
While there have been a number of other high-profile incidents involving U.S. airlines recently, none involved mass casualties. Last year, for example, a door plug blew out of an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max in midflight, but the plane landed safely, though some passengers suffered minor injuries.
Experts stressed that such events occur in only a tiny fraction of the millions of flights that take place in the U.S. every year.
Robert W. Mann Jr., an airline industry analyst and former senior airline executive, told VOA that the U.S. commercial aviation industry experiences an extremely low level of safety incidents and "an even lower level of fatality accidents."
"That's not luck, that's effort," he said. "We're thankful to have so many professionals in the operating environment. In the oversight environment, focus on safety is the number one priority."
The accident took place in one of the most crowded — and highly regulated — sectors of airspace in the United States. The Washington region has three major airports, 11 regional airports and dozens of heliports — not counting the multiple military installations in the region with aviation operations.
Keith M. Cianfrani, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel who served as a flight instructor and an accident investigator, told VOA he flew helicopters in the area where the accident took place while on active duty and later as a commercial pilot.
"It's congested," said Cianfrani, who now works as an aviation safety consultant and adjunct professor at Embry‑Riddle Aeronautical University. "So, it's not unusual to cross the path of an incoming [plane] as long as there is traffic separation."
Traffic separation refers to the distance, in time and space, between aircraft in the same area.