Crash into Potomac River

Wednesday night, a regional jet, meaning not a jumbo, collided with a Black Hawk Helicopter over the Potomac River.

There does not appear to be any survivors.

There are two major airfields in Washington, DC proper.  There is Andrews Air force Base (I think it was renamed) and the Ronald Reagan Internation airfield.  Along with those two airfields, there are several military installations that have helicopter operations.

For perspective, the Aberdeen Proving Grounds had an airfield, 4 helicopter pads “outside the fence” and an unknown number inside the fence.

In other words, there is a bunch of air traffic in the area.

What I would normally see is helicopters flying relatively low over the river.  Runway 33 is pointed at the river.  Many years ago, a pilot dropped a plane into the Potomac because he didn’t de-ice his aircraft.

Even with the lights of the fixed wing aircraft on, the helicopter(s) likely didn’t notice it as it was above, descending to land.

Depending on exactly where the helicopters were, relative to the plane, the pilots of the plane were unlikely to see the helicopters.

Moreover, I doubt that civilian aircraft radar has good detection capabilities for low-flying helicopters.

If anything, it is likely the fault of the air traffic controller.

The plane was a CRJ at 1200 feet just south of the Woodrow Bridge. It was getting ready to land on runway 33.

PAT25 was the helo.  JIA5342 was the CRJ.  The DCQ tower asks, “PAT25, do you have the CRJ in sight?”

The military aircraft does not respond, just a few seconds later tower says, “PAT25, pass behind the CRJ”.

The crash happens a few moments later.

Tower should have ordered CRJ to turn left to heading 270 and to climb to 3000.

Here is the track of the aircraft in the air when the crash took place along with the audio.