What caused the collision of an Army helicopter and a commercial jet airliner in Washington, DC, on January 29th?

Air Traffic Controllers (ATC) nationwide do a remarkable job of keeping all air traffic at a safe distance from each other.  This is done in spite of the fact that Americans possess a remarkable freedom:  thousands of private airplanes are flying all over the country  every day without a formal flight plan, and without being in contact with ATC.  

South Carolina, for example, has about 70 airports.  Four are open only to military traffic.  Six have control towers, and include commercial flights.  Three or four others also are busy enough to have control towers.  All but the military airports are open to private airplanes, landing, taking off, parking, refueling, and using other services.  There are also dozens of private grassy fields that serve as airstrips.  Hundreds of private airplanes are flying in South Carolina on any given day.

The same is true across the country.

And yet, collisions and crashes are extremely rare.  Pilots are trained to use standardized flying procedures which make flying safe for all airplanes, large or small.  Flying is actually safer than driving a car.

Then what happened in Washington, DC, on January 29th?  

Three factors set the stage for that deadly collision.

Factor 1:  What was the commercial jet doing?

The jet was flying into Washington, DC’s Ronald Reagan Airport.  Prior to the collision, it was flying northward, following the assigned route shown in Diagram 1.  

On Diagram 1, “NADSE” and “IDTEK” are points that an aircraft must fly through as part of the standard procedure when approaching the airport.  That includes the slight turn at IDTEK from northward to northwest to line up with the runway, “RW33”.

Factor 2:  The Air Traffic 

Controllers’ job is to keep other aircraft away from that standard flight path.

Diagram 2 shows the standard altitude when approaching the airport.  Note that at NADSE, the plane should be at an altitude of 1700 feet.  Navigation equipment on the airplane tells the pilot how quickly to descend, to touch down on the runway 1,000 feet beyond the start of the runway.  

Note that at the IDTEK intersection, the airplane’s altitude should be 490 feet.  IDTEK is 1.4 miles from the runway.  

That is called the “standard procedure” for landing an airplane, big or small.  These two charts explain what should happen.

But What Really Happened?

Factor 3:  What was the helicopter doing?

The UH-60 Black Hawk military helicopter had taken off from a location several miles to the north of the airport.  It was on a practice run, simulating an emergency evacuation of important political leaders.

Diagram 3 shows the ATC radar scope, with the positions of the helicopter, “PAT25”, and the airliner, “JIA5342”.  The airliner has not yet reached IDTEK.  

It also shows the altitude for each aircraft:  “003” for the helicopter and “005” for the airliner.  Those are the altitude of the aircraft, in hundreds of feet:  300 feet for the helicopter and 500 feet for the airliner.

The distance between the two aircraft is less than two miles and the helicopter is only 200 feet below the airliner – that would be far too little “separation” to be acceptable, especially when they are headed towards each other.  

That situation makes clear Factor 3:  why is ATC not already re-routing the two aircraft away from each other?

In Diagram 4, note the brightly displayed flashing letters “CA” for each aircraft.  That is a warning intended for the Air Traffic Controller assigned to air traffic in that area:  “Collision Avoidance!”

But the audio of the recording makes it clear that no Air Traffic Controller is monitoring this display!  

No Controller is seeing this warning!  No Controller will be giving the much-needed urgent notifications to the two aircraft to change course!

In Diagram 4, the route of the airliner has been sketched in for clarity.

In Diagram 5, the airliner has made the turn at IDTEK.  Its altitude has dropped from 500 feet down to 400 feet, and barely a mile from the runway.  All eyes in the cockpit are now on the toughest part of any flight:  the landing of the airplane.

The system continues to warn the non-existent Controller that Collision Avoidance is necessary for everyone’s safety.

Indeed, Diagram 6 shows that a collision is no longer avoidable.

Diagram 7 shows the final result:  both aircraft were at 300 feet.  The indicators stop there; the aircraft are flying no further.

Sixty-seven people died in that instant.

Aftermath

This is not the first time something like this has happened.  Twice in the previous week or so, military helicopters on that same route have forced ATC to tell airplanes approaching the airport to “go around” – that is, break off their approach, climb up to a higher altitude, and repeat the approach.

It was also deduced that the helicopter’s pilot was probably wearing night goggles, which make it difficult to see aircraft flying directly towards the helicopter.

Diagram 2 specifies higher altitudes for the airliner than the ATC display reveals for most of its flight.

The helicopter was supposed to be at 200 feet; the pilot let the altitude go as high as 300 feet.

An air traffic controller had departed for home before his shift was complete.  

ATC had been understaffed for the area around that airport for years.  In spite of that, President Obama had refused to allow a new group of trainees to graduate and join the ATC ranks, because he felt the class included proportionally too many whites.

Would those 67 people still be alive, if that class had been able to go to work?

About the author:  Scott Crosby has been a pilot since 1986 and has had an instrument rating since 1988.  He has logged more than 2850 hours of flight in the years since.  He is a member of the Upstate Aviation Club, the South Carolina Aviation Association, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, and is currently VP of the South Carolina Breakfast Club.  Scott has owned three airplanes:  a Cessna 150, a Cessna 172, and since 1992 a Cessna 182.  He and his wife have flown to destinations as far as Florida, Maine, Texas, and South Dakota, but they also enjoy a relaxing flight along the edge of the mountains, along the lakes, or just to watch a sunset.  

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