A jet with 60 passengers and four crew members collided with an Army helicopter Wednesday while approaching the Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington.
The aircraft plummeted into the Potomac River. Despite overnight rescue efforts, officials announced Thursday morning that they had found no survivors.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators have a “Go Team” already on the ground investigating. Everyone wants to know how this happened.
There are few clues, but the reality is it will be some time before we have answers.
One big clue is audio from LiveATC.net, a respected source for in-flight recording. It captured the final communications between the three crew members of the helicopter -- call sign PAT25 -- before it collided with the jet.
Here’s that conversation:
“PAT25, do you have a CRJ in sight? (CRJ is Canadian Regional Jet – The American Airlines Plane) PAT25, pass behind the CRJ,” an air traffic controller said at 8:47 p.m. on Wednesday.
Seconds later, another aircraft called in to air traffic control, saying, “Tower, did you see that?” apparently referring to the crash.
“I don’t know if you caught earlier what happened, but there was a collision on the approach into 3-3. We’re going to be shutting down operations for the indefinite future,” another controller remarked.
“Both the helicopter and the plane crashed in the river,” a third air traffic controller can be heard saying.
“It was probably out in the middle of the river,” the controller said. “I just saw a fireball and then it was just gone. I haven’t seen anything since they hit the river. But it was a CRJ and a helicopter that hit.”
News4JAX aviation expert Ed Booth joined us on The Morning Show to address the unanswered questions and video that appears to show the midair collision.
Booth said questions will be raised about air traffic control and communication and whether the pilots saw each other and had proper awareness.