regional jet crash? (American Airlines) at Reagan (DCA)

189,871 Views | 1557 Replies | Last: 17 hrs ago by titan
FireAg
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titan said:

FTAG 2000 said:

Per NBC 4 Washington: both crash sites located.

Wrecks are closer to Anacostia-Bolling side of the Potomac. CRJ is "split in 2" in about 7 feet of water. The helicopter is bobbing upside down, varying between submerged and not. Divers are in the water and searching.

Water temp is 35 degrees. Roughly 25 minutes too before anyone alive in the water would die from hypothermia. They aren't pulling anyone out of the river alive at this point.
That that much is left of the helo is surprising given the size of the fireball. If there is that much left they may yet be able to recover important clues from it.

That much remaining of the helo, coupled with reporting that the plane apparently split into two main piece, makes it sound like the helo hit the side of the plane…the plane didn't plow into it head on…
aggiehawg
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BankerFarmer said:

I'm wondering if the Helicopter Pilots saw the plane that was taking off in the video and mistaken that for the plane they were supposed to be passing behind. Tower instructed them to do this. That would pull their attention away from the actual jet coming in.(eyes looking wrong way) maybe see it at the very last second too late to do anything.
Doubtful. Approach for landing is far different from take off. Plus a heavy jet, such as was taking off. would not be a commuter size. If Visual Flight rules, helo pilot should have known that. Aircraft profiles and lights.
Gunny456
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Agree.
bthotugigem05
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Depending on how the aircraft collided, it's likely the explosion was centered around the fuel tanks on the wing or belly of the jet. Those combustibles burn up quickly in the atmosphere without necessarily atomizing everything around them.
Rapier108
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titan said:

FTAG 2000 said:

Per NBC 4 Washington: both crash sites located.

Wrecks are closer to Anacostia-Bolling side of the Potomac. CRJ is "split in 2" in about 7 feet of water. The helicopter is bobbing upside down, varying between submerged and not. Divers are in the water and searching.

Water temp is 35 degrees. Roughly 25 minutes too before anyone alive in the water would die from hypothermia. They aren't pulling anyone out of the river alive at this point.
That that much is left of the helo is surprising given the size of the fireball. If there is that much left they may yet be able to recover important clues from it.
Impact might have been on the wing of the CRJ. Ruptures the wing fuel tank and that's the flash fire we see.

Wouldn't have to be a full, head on collision to bring down the CRJ. Heck, the CRJ might have "landed" on the helo with the wing slamming down on the helo and basically knocked it out of the way.

This is what happened when PSA 182 hit a Cessna over San Diego. No one caught the impact on film, but there are photos of the 727 on fire as it goes down.
"If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without blood shed; if you will not fight when your victory is sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves." - Sir Winston Churchill
titan
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FireAg said:

titan said:

FTAG 2000 said:

Per NBC 4 Washington: both crash sites located.

Wrecks are closer to Anacostia-Bolling side of the Potomac. CRJ is "split in 2" in about 7 feet of water. The helicopter is bobbing upside down, varying between submerged and not. Divers are in the water and searching.

Water temp is 35 degrees. Roughly 25 minutes too before anyone alive in the water would die from hypothermia. They aren't pulling anyone out of the river alive at this point.
That that much is left of the helo is surprising given the size of the fireball. If there is that much left they may yet be able to recover important clues from it.

That much remaining of the helo, coupled with reporting that the plane apparently split into two main piece, makes it sound like the helo hit the side of the plane…the plane didn't plow into it head on…
Yeah.....Which puts us right back to intentional because it does accelerate it seems, and does lift it seems. Hmm....
bobbranco
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Hard to say. CRJ could have passed behind with wing striking the rear end of the helicopter. I'm certain the fireball would have been larger if jet had more fuel.
agAngeldad
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FTAG 2000 said:

BankerFarmer said:

I'm wondering if the Helicopter Pilots saw the plane that was taking off in the video and mistaken that for the plane they were supposed to be passing behind. Tower instructed them to do this. That would pull their attention away from the actual jet coming in.(eyes looking wrong way) maybe see it at the very last second too late to do anything.


I agree with this idea. Problem is the ATC should have seen them all on radar and advised chopper to wait for plane on left to pass. Not just say 'do you see a plane'.


I don't disagree however, we aren't hearing enough of the voice to hear what if any previous instructions were given. "Do you see that…. Isn't very accurate".
"If you got to tell em who you are, you ain't"
agdaddy04
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But how easy is it to tell the size of the jet at night like this?
EX TEXASEX
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Fron the link I posted earlier. they are quoting CNN who was told by lawenforcement that NO survivors have been pulled from the water yet. Not surprised info is all over the place.
annie88
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Seeing some reports that this was a training flight for the helicopter?

We'll see if that turns out to be true.
titan
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Why don't they have alarmed reactions "Omigod---" from the helo if it saw them and tried to evade? Didn't a post here say that traffic control had them on audio but not hearing anything?
chickencoupe16
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FWAppraiser said:

Again, I know nothing about aviation, but why in the hell would they be doing training near such a busy runway and at night? Seems like a monumentally bad idea.
Because "training" can mean anything. Training could theoretically be a young pilot flying at night for the first time ever but knowing the location and unit, it is almost certain this was an experienced pilot. They could have been flying a route they have flown a hundred times and were just "practicing".
The Kraken
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BankerFarmer said:

I'm wondering if the Helicopter Pilots saw the plane that was taking off in the video and mistaken that for the plane they were supposed to be passing behind. Tower instructed them to do this. That would pull their attention away from the actual jet coming in.(eyes looking wrong way) maybe see it at the very last second too late to do anything.


Haven't listened to ATC recordings I would think ATC would be mentioning the traffic being on final to 33. The other jet was taking off from runway 1.
plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose
FTAG 2000
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EX TEXASEX said:

Fron the link I posted earlier. they are quoting CNN who was told by lawenforcement that NO survivors have been pulled from the water yet. Not surprised info is all over the place.


Anyone not pulled out in 20 minutes died of hypothermia. If they survived the fall
FTAG 2000
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Damn. In the chaos after the crash another American jet told to abort landing flew right over the White House. Great job, dc ATC

https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight/JIA5347/history/20250129/2349Z/KRSW/KIAD
HowdyTAMU
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titan said:


Why don't they have alarmed reactions "Omigod---" from the helo if it saw them and tried to evade? Didn't a post here say that traffic control had them on audio but not hearing anything?


That's caught on the black box. Their external mics are only on when they activate them. Lots of talk in the cockpit without broadcasting it.
EX TEXASEX
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FTAG 2000 said:

EX TEXASEX said:

Fron the link I posted earlier. they are quoting CNN who was told by lawenforcement that NO survivors have been pulled from the water yet. Not surprised info is all over the place.


Anyone not pulled out in 20 minutes died of hypothermia. If they survived the fall
yeah, it is 23 degrees right now and I think it was in the upper 30's when the crashed ocurred.
Stat Monitor Repairman
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titan said:

FireAg said:

titan said:

FTAG 2000 said:

Per NBC 4 Washington: both crash sites located.

Wrecks are closer to Anacostia-Bolling side of the Potomac. CRJ is "split in 2" in about 7 feet of water. The helicopter is bobbing upside down, varying between submerged and not. Divers are in the water and searching.

Water temp is 35 degrees. Roughly 25 minutes too before anyone alive in the water would die from hypothermia. They aren't pulling anyone out of the river alive at this point.
That that much is left of the helo is surprising given the size of the fireball. If there is that much left they may yet be able to recover important clues from it.

That much remaining of the helo, coupled with reporting that the plane apparently split into two main piece, makes it sound like the helo hit the side of the plane…the plane didn't plow into it head on…
Yeah.....Which puts us right back to intentional because it does accelerate it seems, and does lift it seems. Hmm....
Might be seeing an engine detached as a result of the collision and accelerating with no drag.
GT_Aggie2015
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So with the CA alert does that mean this was another "fail safe" miss by ATC? Educate me

Zachary Klement
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https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/news/features/2022/safe-reliable-and-uninhabited-first-autonomous-black-hawk-flight.html
mkpryor11
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Resolution advisory
annie88
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FTAG 2000 said:

Per NBC 4 Washington: both crash sites located.

Wrecks are closer to Anacostia-Bolling side of the Potomac. CRJ is "split in 2" in about 7 feet of water. The helicopter is bobbing upside down, varying between submerged and not. Divers are in the water and searching.

Water temp is 35 degrees. Roughly 25 minutes too before anyone alive in the water would die from hypothermia. They aren't pulling anyone out of the river alive at this point.

Don't know if it's true, but some reports saying that many of the passengers were still strapped in their seats underwater, which wouldn't be surprising. But take that with a grain of salt. Because we don't know.

Just a horrible, horrible thing. And the night time is making it so much harder to deal with.

Many of the people on Titanic survived the sinking but the water got them. So the cold water absolutely making this even more tragic, if that's possible.
GAC06
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My way too early guess at what most likely happened:

The helo saw the jet landing Rwy 1 and misidentified it as the traffic they were to pass behind. The PSA crew were task loaded with the runway change and were looking mostly forward and left at the field while the helo was crossing from the right.
EX TEXASEX
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Official Press Briefing 12:30 AM EST
FTAG 2000
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annie88 said:

FTAG 2000 said:

Per NBC 4 Washington: both crash sites located.

Wrecks are closer to Anacostia-Bolling side of the Potomac. CRJ is "split in 2" in about 7 feet of water. The helicopter is bobbing upside down, varying between submerged and not. Divers are in the water and searching.

Water temp is 35 degrees. Roughly 25 minutes too before anyone alive in the water would die from hypothermia. They aren't pulling anyone out of the river alive at this point.

Don't know if it's true, but some reports saying that many of the passengers were still strapped in their seats underwater, which wouldn't be surprising. But take that with a grain of salt. Because we don't know.

Just a horrible, horrible thing. And the night time is making it so much harder to deal with.

Many of the people on Titanic survived the sinking but the water got them. So the cold water absolutely making this even more tragic, if that's possible.


I'm a dive instructor on the side of my day job. Just doing quick math on the water there at 35 degrees.

Anyone who survived into the water had two minutes to get their bearings before cold water shock and hypothermia started to set in. Which means loss of spatial awareness and full motor control. If they got out of the plane they had 25-30 minutes depending on body weight to get pulled out of water before succumbing to water temps.

HowdyTAMU
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FTAG 2000 said:

annie88 said:

FTAG 2000 said:

Per NBC 4 Washington: both crash sites located.

Wrecks are closer to Anacostia-Bolling side of the Potomac. CRJ is "split in 2" in about 7 feet of water. The helicopter is bobbing upside down, varying between submerged and not. Divers are in the water and searching.

Water temp is 35 degrees. Roughly 25 minutes too before anyone alive in the water would die from hypothermia. They aren't pulling anyone out of the river alive at this point.

Don't know if it's true, but some reports saying that many of the passengers were still strapped in their seats underwater, which wouldn't be surprising. But take that with a grain of salt. Because we don't know.

Just a horrible, horrible thing. And the night time is making it so much harder to deal with.

Many of the people on Titanic survived the sinking but the water got them. So the cold water absolutely making this even more tragic, if that's possible.


I'm a dive instructor on the side of my day job. Just doing quick math on the water there at 35 degrees.

Anyone who survived into the water had two minutes to get their bearings before cold water shock and hypothermia started to set in. Which means loss of spatial awareness and full motor control. If they got out of the plane they had 25-30 minutes depending on body weight to get pulled out of water before succumbing to water temps.




And this is on top of a 400 foot drop into the water. That in itself killed most of them. Tragic.
Pinochet
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GAC06 said:

My way too early guess at what most likely happened:

The helo saw the jet landing Rwy 1 and misidentified it as the traffic they were to pass behind. The PSA crew were task loaded with the runway change and were looking mostly forward and left at the field while the helo was crossing from the right.

I was an early adopter of this theory. One of the first, actually.

Someone told me that got a CTL clearance at the last minute, which makes the task saturation make more sense.
Rockdoc
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I'm really falling to understand why ATC wasn't continuously screaming their heads off 15 to 20 seconds before the collision. Maybe they were and I missed it.
Pinochet
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Rockdoc said:

I'm really falling to understand why ATC wasn't continuously screaming their heads off 15 to 20 seconds before the collision. Maybe they were and I missed it.

Because it was a VMC night and it's common to tell helicopter traffic to maintain their own visual separation.
titan
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GAC06 said:

My way too early guess at what most likely happened:

The helo saw the jet landing Rwy 1 and misidentified it as the traffic they were to pass behind. The PSA crew were task loaded with the runway change and were looking mostly forward and left at the field while the helo was crossing from the right.
In your opinion was the helo somehow "drawn" into the jet when close enough -- could that explain the odd evading but still hitting it motion?
HtownAg19
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Rockdoc said:

I'm really falling to understand why ATC wasn't continuously screaming their heads off 15 to 20 seconds before the collision. Maybe they were and I missed it.


Helicopter reported CRJ in sight and were instructed to fly behind it. From that far away in the tower at night there's no way they would've been able to see they were on a direct course for the plane
TA-OP
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FireAg said:

Is it wrong that I'm hoping accident and not the alternative?
That's never wrong.
bthotugigem05
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Never heard of wake turbulence causing lift, which would be negligible for a CRJ in the first place, nor does it appear to have collided anywhere near the engines.
Catag94
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HtownAg19 said:

Rockdoc said:

I'm really falling to understand why ATC wasn't continuously screaming their heads off 15 to 20 seconds before the collision. Maybe they were and I missed it.


Helicopter reported CRJ in sight and were instructed to fly behind it. From that far away in the tower at night there's no way they would've been able to see they were on a direct course for the plane


Their radar scope could thought.
 
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