In the aviation world, one expert explains that the world is the most controlled bit, and understand how a fatal aerial collision between the passenger aircraft and the military helicopter could occur. I have a hard time doing it.
The US Army Black Hawk Helicopter, which has three crew members, clashed with an American aviation jet carrying 64 people before passenger aircraft became Washington National Airport land.
Both aircraft sent a career to the ice Potomac River on Wednesday night.
In the airspace of the US capital, hundreds of private and military flights are found every day, including helicopters, which are in charge of carrying high -ranking officials and politicians in delicate places.
However, John Strickland, a UK -based aviation expert, stated that commercial air traffic in the region could not fully explain why a fatal collision could occur.
Like Washington, near the city center, he pointed out that the International Gateway, Washing Tondales, and Baltimore Airports are a bit separated.
“To maintain separation, it is necessary to manage traffic flows. It is the same as in London, where you need to manage traffic flows between Heathrow, Stansted, Gatwick, and London City.
“Therefore, DC has no difference in London and New York, which is not completely unusual.”
However, on the Colombian district, there are many restricted airspaces at the White House and the U.S. Congress Hall, opposite the Potomac River from the National Airport.
Experts agree that the intersection between private air traffic and normal military flights would make the DC space more complicated.
Aviation consultant Philip butterworthheart said that the case had occurred in the “connection of various aviation systems,” and in a unique procedure at the airport, as well as private systems and military systems.
“You are on the border of the three or four aviation systems here, and it is on a border where most accidents tend to occur,” he added.
Butterworth Hayes will continue. “This is the most controlled airspace in the world. You have both US governments and private systems. The Ronald Reagan Airport is owned by the government.
“This is really the safest, and it should be the safest airspace in the world, given the number of security and private safety organizations working in the area.”
The last fatal Crash accident involving commercial airplanes in the United States was in February 2009. Officials and experts emphasize that this type of incident is very rare because the safety restrictions of all kinds of flights are severe.
Experts agree that both aircraft had directly contacted citizens’ air traffic control.
The video obtained by the BBC’s US news partner, CBS NEWS, from an air traffic control source, has shown two aircraft that seem to be involved in a crash that is clearly visible in the controller accessed radar system.
The audio procured by the BBC News seems to have confirmed that helicopters are in contact with airport air traffic control on the airport.
The helicopter asked if the passenger airplane would “be in sight” or “pass behind.” In the following sounds, the controller seems to have noticed that there was a collision, and you can hear that other airplanes in the air will be guided to an airport adjacent.
Butterworth Hayes said that such an aerial collision needed a lot of wrong things.
He stated that in order to fly in a private airspace, military helicopters needed a transponder to warn the surrounding aircraft at that position.
In other words, he said that both aircraft had been able to see each other, and there would have been an aircraft control and an aircraft protection safety device that operated separately.
“On this occasion, there are these two different systems, and both should have been able to separate these aircraft.”
The Black Hawk Helicopter was part of Company B of 12 Air Bands. He left Berbore, a military base in Virginia, and participated in training exercises.
The US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegouses states that a helicopter crew has participated in the annual night training session, saying “quite a lot.”
According to CNN, Cedric Leighton, a retired US Air Force, said it was normal for its type of military aircraft to train at night.
He stated that one of the duty of the unit was to transport high -ranking staff around the capital, but now only the crews were on board.
The unit pilot is expected to acquire the flight in the busy airspace of DC and the “train to avoid such an incident”.
Butterworth Hayes said that only experienced pilots could train in such busy airspace.
“Regardless of whether it is a new system or a device training, it is necessary to know which system the pilot turned on with a helicopter, whether all the safety systems were on the ship, or whether the new steps or new routes were being tried. There is.
According to the BBC World Service Newsday program, Neil Hansford, a base -based Australian aerial expert, stated that a collision would be a specific question to US aviation authorities, and would probably lead to the procedure overhaul.
He stated that it would not happen in Europe or Australia because the rules for managing the flight route were severe.
Another factor in the tragedy is the speed that the jet was flying because the jet had landed, according to Strickland.
“If a big shock occurs, there is no time to do anything, even if the crew survives.
“The aircraft has some vulnerabilities for that speed. I can imagine that the same result was even a much larger aircraft.”