What were the pilots doing? Experts weigh in on crash and what investigation will look for

Sky News

30-01-2025

The crash between a passenger jet and a military helicopter over Washington DC happened in "one of the most fiercely controlled" airspaces in the world, an expert has said.
Two aviation experts spoke to Sky News about what may have happened, what condition the pilots would have been flying in and what the investigation will focus on.
What may have happened?
The airspace where the crash happened was "one of the most fiercely controlled aircraft control zones in the world", military analyst Sean Bell told Sky News, meaning pilots "have to follow strict instructions wherever they go".
As the passenger jet, which had 60 passengers and four crew on board, was approaching the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, it was asked to land on the shorter runway 33, while the Black Hawk was making its way down the Potomac River.
This would have brought it in on a circling approach towards the runway - something the military pilots may not have been accounting for, according to Captain Mike Coffield, a retired airline captain and aviation expert.
"It's not usual that [the helicopter pilot] would even be thinking that somebody is doing a circling approach to runway 33," he told Sky News.
There were also questions about the height the military helicopter was flying at, Mr Bell noted.
The investigation will likely ask "why the helicopter was at 400ft rather than 200ft, where it was meant to be", he said.
But, cautioning against speculation, he added: "There might have been some emergency in the helicopter that they were dealing with. If you have an emergency, the first thing they tell you as a military pilot is to fly the aircraft [up].
"It would be wrong at this stage to say it's anybody's fault. What we can say is the investigation is likely to focus on why it looks like the civilian aircraft was exactly on the right flight path, but somehow the procedural deconfliction failed."
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Why didn't the military helicopter see the plane?
Another factor in the crash may have been the equipment used by the Black Hawk pilots, who have been confirmed to have been wearing night vision goggles by US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth.
Such goggles work by amplifying the light available at night, but Mr Bell points out that while they work well in the countryside, in the middle of a busy city like Washington "the whole airfield is absolutely alight with lights".
"You would not pick out an airliner if you were in another aircraft, because it will be against lots of other lights," he said.
In such a scenario "you cannot trust your eyes", he added, which is why in a control zone planes and helicopters are supposed to fly along agreed flight lanes at specified heights.
Another issue may have been that the plane and helicopter could have been talking on different frequencies, Mr Coffield said.
"The helicopter is talking on UHF frequencies, which the military uses, and the airlines are talking on VHF. The tower talks to both at the same time," he explained.
"So the pilots in the aeroplane would not have heard any response from the helicopter, and the helicopter would not have heard any response from the aeroplane."
What about the collision warning system?
While the airliner would have been fitted with a Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS), the military helicopter likely would not have carried one, Mr Coffield said, because such aircraft usually "fly in formation, so that thing would be going off all the time".
Both aircraft were operating above Washington DC, an extremely busy airspace, which may have added to the confusion of the situation.
"Imagine how busy this airfield is, it would be beeping all the time," Mr Bell said of the collision warning system operated by the airline. As such it would have been especially important for both pilots to follow the rules of the airfield they were operating in.
"As a military pilot, generally, you operate away from that environment, so it's less familiar," Mr Bell said. "But they will have known exactly what the rules and regulations were for that flight."
What will the investigation focus on?
The investigation into the crash will initially focus on finding and then analysing data from the black box flight recorders for both aircraft, as well as the radio communications between the air traffic control tower and the two aircraft.
Mr Coffield said investigators would also be able to take sonar pictures of the riverbed where the wreckage lies in order to "determine the actual velocity and angles" of the crash, which would even allow them to "tell where the pilots were looking".
Mr Bell added: "They will also look at: what the pilots did, what they had for breakfast, were they properly trained, did they use the simulators regularly, were they well-rested?
"All of that will eventually work out exactly what happened, and they will be fiercely determined to make sure they avoid this ever happening again."