The deadly mid-air crash in Washington, D.C., Wednesday night is likely the result of unique air traffic patterns in the area and shouldn’t cause wider fears over air safety, says an aviation expert.
John Gradek, who teaches aviation management at McGill University, said the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport has seen rising activity over the years while military aircraft also frequently fly in the area to make it a higher-risk airspace.
“It’s probably the busiest runway in the U.S. and when you have that level of volume and you also have military flights that use airspace around D.C., you know, it was an accident waiting to happen.”
The collision between an American Airlines jet carrying 64 people and a Black Hawk Army helicopter carrying three soldiers is believed to have killed everyone on board both aircraft, making it the worst U.S. aviation disaster in almost a quarter century.
There was no immediate word on the cause of the collision, but officials say the jet was making a routine landing when the helicopter flew into its path.
Audio from air traffic controllers confirms they told the helicopter about the plane so it would have been the responsibility of the helicopter pilot to avoid the jet, Gradek said.
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“It is up to the up to the military helicopters to really make sure they are very aware of what the traffic is around them, and they have to fly and avoid the incoming aircraft or outgoing aircraft.”
The pilots of the jet would have been focused on landing as they were at around 350 feet of elevation, flying 225 kilometres an hour when the collision happened, he said, making it even more important for the helicopter to have made sure to avoid it.
“The Black Hawk, from what I understand, did acknowledge visible, visual on the aircraft,” said Gradek.
“So whether they visually recognize the right airplane or not is something that Investigators will be looking at.”
He said that while there are concerns about air traffic controller shortages in Canada, flight volumes are managed so they’re never overstretched. He said at peak travel times like the summer there could be limits put on the number flights because there aren’t enough controllers around.
“So there’s never, there’s never an actual shortage of flight of controllers to handle the capacity or handle the demand.”
There’s also no airports in Canada that have anywhere near the volume of military flights that the D.C. area sees, reinforcing the unique circumstances of the crash, he said.
“It’s an aberration as far as I’m concerned. It’s not something that we should panic over at this point in time.”
