By Allison Lampert and Rajesh Kumar Singh
(Reuters) – U.S. commercial pilot Rick Redfern was preparing to land at Reagan Washington National Airport a decade ago when he spotted a Coast Guard helicopter hovering about 50 feet off the Potomac River. Air traffic control promptly warned the helicopter pilot to stay clear, averting a potential disaster.
A collision on Wednesday night between a Black Hawk military helicopter and an American Eagle CRJ 700 jet, which killed more than 60 people, has stirred haunting memories for Redfern and other pilots who have faced challenges landing at Washington airport.
Planes approaching the airport must navigate a precise and narrow flight path to avoid restricted airspace around the nearby White House and Pentagon.
“That turn from the eastern side along the river to turn into runway 33 is very, very tight,” said Redfern, referring to the same airstrip the American Eagle jet was heading towards before colliding with the U.S. military helicopter.
It is unclear what caused the crash, which is now under investigation by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and the U.S. Army. Most air crashes typically result from multiple contributing factors.
Seven U.S. pilots told Reuters the landing at Reagan is unique due to congested space, along with an inability to communicate directly with military aircraft, which operate on different radio frequencies. The airport also has shorter runways, including runway 33, which is generally reserved for smaller aircraft, one of the seven aviators said.
For pilots, it means traversing narrow airspace since planes can’t cross the eastern shoreline of the Potomac River when approaching the airport that is also used regularly by the military for training, the pilots said.
“Is DCA a congested airspace? Yes, hands down no doubt about it,” said Dennis Tajer, a spokesperson for the Allied Pilots Association that represents American Airlines mainline pilots.
“It’s in a very tight airspace because there are restricted areas all around the airport.”
While constrained airspace makes the approach more challenging for pilots, aviation safety experts have not raised widespread concerns about the space constraints.
“It’s a challenging airport to fly into because of all the restricted airspace,” said aviation safety and crash investigation expert Anthony Brickhouse.
“But we have commercial flights and military flights and all types of flights operating out of Reagan National every day.”
A PREVENTABLE TRAGEDY?
A United Airlines pilot who has flown in and out of Washington for 20 years described it as one of the most challenging airspaces due to a combination of short runways, heavy traffic, and strict security restrictions.
The pilot emphasized the need to be extra alert and well-rested when flying into Washington.
“You definitely are bringing your A-game when you fly in and out of Reagan,” added former longtime commercial airline pilot Kathleen Bangs.
Brickhouse noted that investigators will examine visual cues, visibility conditions at the airport, and any interactions between the two aircraft.
The U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter involved in the collision was on a training flight.
In the moments before the crash, an air traffic controller can be heard on recordings asking the helicopter to pass behind the jet.
“They’ll be studying what the helicopter pilots and commercial pilots could have seen and any communication between the two aircraft,” Brickhouse said.
Commercial aircraft use Very High Frequency (VHF) radios to communicate, while military aircraft operate on Ultra High Frequency (UHF) channels, making direct communication between them difficult. However, the control tower can communicate with both frequencies.
Army Secretary nominee Daniel Driscoll said during a Senate hearing on Thursday that the incident may prompt the military to reconsider conducting training operations near the busy Washington, D.C., airspace.
“This seems to be preventable,” Driscoll said. “I think we might need to look at where is an appropriate time to take training risk, and it may not be near an airport like Reagan.”
(Reporting By Allison Lampert in Montreal and Rajesh Kumar Singh in Chicago. Additional reporting by David Shepardson in Washington and Dan Catchpole in Seattle; Editing by Joe Brock and Nick Zieminski)
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