Melbourne:

On Wednesday night US time, a passenger jet and US Army helicopter collided at a low altitude near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, and crashed into the Potomac River.

A total of 60 passengers – including US and Russian champion figure skaters – and four crew were on board the American Airlines flight AA5342 from Wichita, Kansas. Three military personnel were in the chopper, which was conducting a routine training flight. Authorities say no one on board either aircraft survived.

This crash comes just over a month after a passenger jet crashed in South Korea – possibly as a result of a bird strike – killing all but two of the 181 people on board. The two incidents have focused attention on aviation safety around the world.

In the case of the most recent tragedy in the US, technology exists that is designed to help pilots avoid midair collisions with other aircraft. It is known as the Traffic Collision Avoidance System – or TCAS.

So how does it work? And why might it have failed to prevent disaster in this case?

What is a TCAS?

A TCAS is an aircraft safety system that monitors the airspace around a plane for other aircraft equipped with transponders. These are devices that listen for and respond to incoming electronic signals.

The system – also sometimes referred to as an ACAS (Airborne Collision Avoidance System) – operates independently of an external air traffic control system. Its purpose is to alert pilots immediately to nearby aircraft and potential midair collisions.

Since the technology was developed in 1974, it has undergone a number of advances.

The first generation technology, known as TCAS I, monitors what’s around an aircraft. It provides information on the bearing and altitude of any nearby aircraft. If there is a risk of collision, it generates what’s known as a “Traffic Advisory” – or TA. When a TA is issued, the pilot is notified of the threat, but must themselves determine the best evasive action to take.

The second generation technology, known as TCAS II, goes a step further: it provides a pilot with specific instructions on how to avoid a collision with a nearby aircraft or conflict with traffic, either by descending, climbing, turning or adjusting their speed.

These newer systems are also able to communicate with each other. This ensures the advice given to each aircraft is coordinated.

Any aircraft used for commercial purposes must be equipped with a TCAS in accordance with international regulations under what’s known as the Chicago Convention. There are specific provisions under the convention for noncommercial aircraft.

Military helicopters are not subject to the provisions of the Chicago Convention (although they are subject to domestic laws and regulations). And there are reports the military helicopter did not have a TCAS system on board.

Limitations of TCAS at low altitudes

Regardless of whether the military helicopter involved in the crash was fitted with a TCAS, the technology still has limitations. In particular, it is inhibited at altitudes below roughly 300 metres.

The last recorded altitude of American Airlines flight AA5342 was roughly 90 metres. The last recorded altitude of the US military helicopter that collided with the plane was roughly 60 metres.

It is not an accident that a TCAS is inhibited at low altitudes. In fact, this is part of the design of the technology.

This is primarily because the system relies on radio altimeter data, which measures altitude and becomes less accurate near the ground. This could potentially result in unreliable collision-avoidance instructions.

Another issue is that an aircraft at such a low altitude cannot descend any further to avoid a collision.

The site of several near misses

Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is one of the busiest airports in the United States. Commercial, military and private aircraft share very limited airspace and corridors.

It has been the site of several near misses in recent years.

For example, in April 2024, a commercial plane pilot coming into land had to take evasive action to avoid a helicopter that was roughly 100 metres beneath it. In an incident report, the pilot said:

We never received a warning of the traffic from (air traffic control) so we were unaware it was there.

Many people, including Democratic US senator Tim Kaine, pointed to this near miss as evidence of why a plan to allow more flights into Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport should not proceed. Despite this, the plan was approved the following month.

All of this will undoubtedly be examined as part of the investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board into this disaster.

Author: Chrystal Zhang, Associate Professor, Aerospace Engineering & Aviation, RMIT University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

The recent collision between a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter and an American Eagle Flight 5342 near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport has brought attention to the safety record of the Black Hawk. Considered the “workhorse” of Army aviation, the Black Hawk has been in service since 1979 and has a reputation for being reliable and survivable in combat and transport missions.

With over 5,000 units built for 36 countries, the Black Hawk is widely used for various operations, including air assault and relief efforts. Despite its strong track record, the Black Hawk has been involved in several fatal incidents, including a collision during a training exercise in Kentucky that killed nine soldiers.

Retired Army Lt. Col. Darin Gaub told MSNBC, that the crew of the Black Hawk involved in the recent collision may not have been aware of the passenger jet’s presence, as video footage showed the helicopter did not change course or altitude before the crash. Gaub also pointed out that the training mission had fewer crew chiefs than usual, which may have reduced the crew’s ability to identify potential dangers. Usually such missions have three chew chiefs, however Wednesday’s had one. “That’s a fact,” he said. “It may have bearing in the future. It may not. But it does reduce ability of crew to identify an aircraft in flight at night.”

The Army has grounded its aviation units except for critical missions following the collision in Kentucky and another fatal incident involving Apache helicopters in Alaska. Army Chief of Staff James McConville stated that the stand-down was necessary to ensure the Army was taking all possible precautions to prevent accidents.

A review of fatal incidents involving Black Hawk helicopters found that while 60 people had died in training incidents over the previous decade, the Black Hawk has fewer deadly incidents relative to hours flown compared to other helicopters in the Army’s fleet. The review concluded that the Black Hawk is involved in far less fatal incidents than other helicopters, including the AH-64 Apache and the CH-47 Chinook.
 

The victims of a crash between an American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter included teen figure skaters returning from a national meet with their mothers and coaches, an Ohio college student coming from her grandfather’s funeral and a group of hunters headed back from a guided trip in Kansas.

They were among 60 travelers and four crew members on board the commercial flight late Wednesday (January 30, 2025) when it collided with a Black Hawk helicopter that was carrying three soldiers. Officials say there are no survivors.

At least 28 bodies were pulled from the icy waters of the Potomac River after the helicopter apparently flew into the path of the American Airlines regional jet late Wednesday while it was landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport, just across the river from Washington, officials said.

President Donald Trump told a White House news conference that no one survived.

“We are now at the point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation,” said John Donnelly, the fire chief in the nation’s capital.

As the search for remains continued Thursday, communities grieved. Faith leaders held a vigil Thursday in the city council chambers.

“The only way we will get through this is together,” said the Rev. Pamela Hughes Mason of Wichita’s St. Paul AME Church.

American Airlines set up a hotline as well as centers in Washington and Wichita for people searching for information about family members who may have been aboard the downed flight. The hotline can be reached at 1-800 679 8215.

Here’s what we know about who was killed in Wednesday night’s crash:

Skaters Jinna Han and Spencer Lane were among those killed, according to Doug Zeghibe, CEO of the Skating Club of Boston. Their mothers, Jin Han and Christine Lane, as well as their coaches Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were also killed.

Han and Lane, who was about 16, were returning from the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

“We watched Jinna just grow up here from just a tiny little tyke into this amazingly mature 13-year-old,” he said. “A great performer, a great competitor, and off the ice, a great kid.”

Spencer Lane, who was from Barrington, Rhode Island, took part in his first professional show in December with Elin Schran’s company, Joy Skate Productions.

“He started to discover this connection with the audience and that joy that he was giving to other people through his gift,” Schran said.

In a statement, the Lane family recalled Christine Lane for both her singular talents and her dedication to parenting.

“Christine exuded creativity throughout her life, using her formal graphic design training as a jumping-off point for seemingly endless creative pursuits across areas such as photography, quilting, knitting, and more. She brought even greater passion to her role as a mother to Spencer and his brother Milo,” the family said.

Their coaches, Shishkova and Naumov, won the pairs title at the 1994 world championships in Chiba, Japan. The Russia-born pair also competed twice in the Olympics.

Skating organizations in Philadelphia and the Washington area also said some of their young athletes had been aboard the plane.

Several athletes on the flight had attended a development camp held after the U.S. Figure Skating Championships ended Sunday in Wichita, Kansas.

Wichita Skating Center manager Sean O’Reilly said the championships brought a “groundswell of positivity,” drawing enthusiastic parents and young athletes from across the U.S. He was “gutted” to learn some of those skaters had been killed.

In Virginia’s Loudoun County, a coach at a skating club was also identified as among the passengers, Virginia Rep. Suhas Subramanyam confirmed. The club, Ashburn Ice House, said that its “figure skating community has been directly affected,” but did not give further details.

Cedarville University in Ohio said one of the passengers on the plane was Grace Maxwell, a junior majoring in mechanical engineering.

Maxwell’s father, Dean Maxwell, said she was returning to campus from her home in Wichita, Kansas, after attending her grandfather’s funeral, the Kansas City Star reported.

Grace Maxwell had been working on project this semester to create a hand-stabilizing device to help a boy in the area feed himself instead of rely on others, the university said in a statement.

“Grace was a quiet person with a keen interest in helping others through engineering,” said Tim Norman, who served as her secondary advisor.

Three other students from schools in Fairfax County, Virginia, and six parents from the district were also on board the plane, superintendent Michelle Reid said in a letter to families. She did not identify them, but she said the students were from different schools and that two of the parents were current or former district staffers.

Seven people returning from a guided hunting trip in Kansas were killed, according to a Facebook post by Fowl Plains, the guide service.

The Fowl Plains team said they had grown close to the hunters on board the flight over the years and considered them to be family members. The post doesn’t identify the hunters by name, but it says they had spent the past week on a guided hunt, “laughing, talking about our families and sharing memories.”

“Heartbroken is an understatement,” the company said.

Those killed also included four steamfitters, all members of a United Association union local in suburban Maryland, union leaders said in a social media post Thursday.

“Our focus now is on providing support and care to the families of our Brothers as we continue to gather more information in the coming days,” said the post by UA General President Mark McManus and Chris Madello, the business manager of Local 602.

The bodies of all three soldiers who were on the helicopter have been recovered.

Officials said the remains will be at Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. That office coordinates the dignified transfer of fallen service members.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details not yet announced. No identities of the crew have been released.

But the wife of one of the helicopter pilots said on Facebook that her husband, Andrew Eaves of Noxubee County Mississippi, was killed. In a phone call, Carrie Eaves confirmed the post was hers.

“We ask that you pray for our family and friends and for all the other families that are suffering today. We ask for peace while we grieve,” her post read.

The three soldiers were doing an annual night proficiency training flight, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said, adding they were a “fairly experienced crew.” Officials were notifying relatives, he said.

Deadliest U.S. air disaster in almost a quarter century

The plane was found upside-down in three sections in waist-deep water, and first responders were searching miles of the Potomac, Donnelly said. The helicopter wreckage was also found. Images from the river showed boats around the partly submerged wing and the mangled wreckage of the plane’s fuselage.

American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said said the plane was making a normal approach when “the military aircraft came into the path” of the jet.

One air traffic controller was responsible for coordinating helicopter traffic and arriving and departing planes when the collision happened, according to a report by the Federal Aviation Administration that was obtained by The Associated Press. Those duties are often divided between two people, but the airport typically combines the roles at 9:30 p.m, once traffic begins to slow down. On Wednesday the tower supervisor directed that they be combined earlier.

“The position configuration was not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic,” the report said. A person familiar with the matter, however, said the tower staffing that night was at a normal level.

The positions are regularly combined when controllers need to step away from the console for breaks, during shift changes or when air traffic is slow, the person said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal procedures.

The Federal Aviation Administration has long struggled with a shortage of air traffic controllers.

Wednesday’s crash was the deadliest in the U.S. since Nov. 12, 2001, when an American Airlines flight slammed into a residential area of Belle Harbor, New York, just after takeoff from Kennedy Airport, killing all 260 people aboard.

The last major fatal crash involving a U.S. commercial airline occurred in 2009 near Buffalo, New York. Everyone aboard the Bombardier DHC-8 propeller plane was killed, along with one person on the ground, bringing the total death toll to 50.

Experts often highlight that plane travel is overwhelmingly safe, however. The National Safety Council estimates that Americans have a 1-in-93 chance of dying in a motor vehicle crash, while deaths on airplanes are too rare to calculate the odds. Figures from the Department of Transportation tell a similar story.

Washington:

US President Donald Trump blamed diversity policies implemented during the Obama and Biden administrations for compromising air safety standards. This statement came after a devastating mid-air collision between an American Airlines passenger jet and a US Army Black Hawk helicopter, resulting in no survivors.

Trump’s remarks have ignited a heated debate about the role of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The President claimed that these initiatives prioritised policy over safety, stating, “I put safety first. Obama, Biden, and the Democrats put policy first.” He further emphasised, “They actually came out with a directive: ‘too white.’ And we want the people that are competent”.

The FAA’s hiring practices have been under scrutiny, with some critics arguing that DEI programs can be discriminatory. However, supporters of these initiatives contend that they address historical and ongoing discrimination against underrepresented groups, including racial minorities.

Trump has specifically targeted former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, implying that he hired unqualified individuals with disabilities and psychological issues for air traffic control positions. Trump expressed his doubts about their competence, saying, “I don’t think so.” He also claimed that the FAA was “ran into the ground” by DEI hires after being deemed “too white”.

In response to the crash, Trump is appointing Chris Rocheleau as the acting administrator of the FAA. The agency’s hiring practices and safety standards will likely face intense scrutiny in the coming days.

It’s worth noting that changes to the FAA’s hiring practices were made during the Obama administration, which introduced a biographical test as part of the application process. This move aimed to increase diversity among air traffic controllers. However, some have criticised this approach, arguing that it prioritised diversity over competence.