This Will Be A Real Test

NOW — Transportation Sec. Sean Duffy:

“Whether it was air traffic control, whether it was military aircraft, helicopters or the American flight, everything was standard in the lead up to the crash … Something happened here.” pic.twitter.com/ojRVAf34ZO

— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) January 30, 2025

A YouTube commentator that I trust on aviation matters, Juan Browne on the blancolirio channel, a working airline pilot with both military and civilian experience, has a good video with graphics. At 0:50, he says,

. . . the [Regional Jet] flies the approach to this Runway, 1, the long runway, and then sidesteps around here to a left dogleg entry to Runway 33, the relatively short runway at about 5200 feet long here at Washington DC, a very demanding approach. This crew is focused on this approach. This midair collision occurred just below 400 feet above the ground. The National Guard helicopter, believed to be eithet as UH60 or VH60, was presumably operating out of Joint Base Bolling. . . . They have this procedure where they can dart across the Potomac River right across the final approach for these airlines, this is an approved procedure.

He then narrates over the video of the collision, in which the helicopter approaches the regional jet from its left and crashes into its right side. He continues,

Now let's review the ATC data. Let'sf first check this out from ADSB Exchange, where the two aircraft came together. So here you can see the regional jet doing the sidestep maneuver to Runway 33, so kind of a left dogleg base entry, this is all done visually to Runway 33, and the helicopter coming out of Bolling and crossing right into its path. . . . The tower at DCA sayhs, "Pat 25 [the helicopter], do you have the RJ in sight?" Now I believe the helicopters are operating on a separate frequency from the CRJ, so I don't believe the CRJ hears the helicopters, but all this is being controlled by the tower there at DCA, so the tower says, "Pat 25 [the helicopter], do you have the CRJ in sight?" Pat 25 responds, "Have the CRJ in sight, request visual separation," standard procedure, and then the tower clears Pat 25 to pass behind the CRJ. For whatever reason, the helicopter did not see and avoid the CRJ and ran right into him.

. . . Looking at the track log, the CRJ was on a perfectly stabilized approach. In other words, the CRJ was exactly where he was supposed to be, doing exactly what he was supposed to be doing.

WUSA9 has an intefrview with Doug Feith, a retired NTSB investigator and a regular on the Air Disasters program on the Smithsonian Channel. At 6:20, he says

The question that I would ask as an investigator, of the military, is, "What are your procedures, especially in an environment where we have high density traffic flow? You're mixing civilian and military operations in this corridor." I grew up here, in Maryland, so I'm very familiar with the area, I've lived there for most of my life, I've seen these operations, I've flown down the Potomac River. It is busy, and you're constantly listening for other aircraft on frequency to see where they are and where they're going, just because it's all about this term that we use in aviation called "situational awareness". I want to know who's in my environment. The question is, was there that kind of communication, interaction bdetween military and civilian, and then of course, where were the controllers?

What we're starting to hear from experienced observers is that there was a procedure that the military helicopter, on a training mission, was supposed to follow, and it had instructions from the tower controller to avoid and pass behind the regional jet, which it didn't follow.

Air accident investigations of the type Mr Feith led typically take years. He decries a culture of instant gratification in the interview, but the new Trump administration is setting expectations for a culture of accountability. In the military, situations like this develop in an environment, and the chain of command is held responsible for the environment. A reasonable conclusion from the circumstances we've learned so far is that there was a trainee pilot on the helicopter who apparently shouldn't have been there, and 64 civilians were killed as a result.

Secretary Hegseths initial message to the Department of Defense said, in the context of rebuilding the military,

All of this will be done with a focus on lethality, meritocracy, accountability, standards, and readiness.

We're going to have to see how this plays out, and fairly soon. Among other things, dereliction of duty is a crime in the military. Somebody allowed this situation to develop.