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USA Today
05-02-2025
- General
- USA Today
Investigations don't undo air crashes but they prevent tragic repeats
AI-assisted summary A tragic collision between an Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines regional jet occurred near Reagan National Airport, resulting in the loss of all passengers and crew members. The National Transportation Safety Board is conducting a thorough investigation to determine the cause of the crash. The industry's commitment to safety ensures that flying will become even safer as a result of the lessons learned from this tragedy. It's the story you never want to have to cover as an aviation reporter. Last week, we saw the first fatal crash of a U.S. airliner in almost 16 years when an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided with an American Airlines regional jet over the Potomac River near Reagan National Airport. Nearly 70 people died – there were no survivors – and every life lost is nothing short of its own individual tragedy. In the face of such tragedy, it's important to do a few things. No finger-pointing (yet), trust the process First, we shouldn't point fingers and assign blame prematurely. Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle. An official, thorough investigation is underway and the National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the inquiry, is the gold-standard investigative body for the aviation industry. The truth about exactly what happened last week, and how, will come out. In the meantime, speculation on the internet or from the analyst class does nothing to help or bring back the people we lost. Second, we should trust and take comfort in the investigative process. In the U.S., we're very lucky that this kind of tragedy is exceedingly rare. The fact that, as an aviation reporter, I'm not writing about disasters like what happened on Wednesday on a regular basis is a testament to how safe flying really is in this country. It wasn't always that way, but it's become so safe only because the airline industry as a whole has a sort of unofficial mantra that no one dies in a plane crash in vain. Airlines, aviation accident investigators, manufacturers, flight crews, and everyone else who has made any contribution to the industry see every tragic loss as a learning experience. It can't undo the devastation of a crash, but it can learn from each tragedy to improve the safety record for every future flight. Every accident deserves, gets an investigation As William J. McGee, senior fellow for aviation and travel at the American Economic Liberties Project, told me in my reporting on the immediate aftermath of Wednesday's crash, the Federal Aviation Administration exists because the government and the airline industry tried to improve their safety records more than half a century ago. 'The reason we have an FAA is President Eisenhower (signed it into law) in 1958, in response to a midair collision over the Grand Canyon in 1956,' he said. In that crash, a United Airlines Douglas DC-7 and a Trans World Airlines Lockheed Super Constellation collided over the Grand Canyon in uncontrolled airspace. Under the rules in effect at the time, crews on both planes had a responsibility to see and avoid other aircraft, but neither saw the other aircraft in time to avert the collision. It was the first commercial aviation disaster to surpass 100 deaths and led to major reforms in how air traffic was controlled. In the decades since the pattern in the industry has been the same. An investigation is conducted after every accident. Professionals from across the industry participate and advise as they can. Investigators make recommendations, which stakeholders generally accept and implement. No rash responses One of the first aviation tragedies I covered professionally was Southwest Airlines Flight 1380. In that incident, the engine on a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 broke apart mid-flight. A piece of the engine was flung into the aircraft, destroying a window, which led to a rapid decompression of the cabin that killed one passenger. The NTSB ultimately recommended inspections and a redesign of the engine cowling (the exterior part of a jet engine) to ensure a similar failure can't happen again. A few months later, Boeing's long stint under the safety microscope truly began when back-to-back 737 Max crashes happened overseas, killing hundreds. Most recently, another 737 Max lost a section of its fuselage during a flight. While there were no fatalities in that incident, it still underscores how the industry responds. All of these 737 incidents, along with every other incident in commercial aviation, get the same treatment: a thorough investigation that ultimately leads to official recommendations for improvement. While Boeing has faced criticism for its slow response, in some ways, slowness is part of what makes the process work. Safety doesn't come from rash responses. It takes deliberative, well-thought-out plans to make meaningful improvements to an already-safe system. In the immediate aftermath of Wednesday's disaster, the Federal Aviation Administration closed two helicopter corridors near the DCA airspace that may have been implicated in the crash. It's a sensible first response, but it remains to be seen what the investigators ultimately recommend as a long-term fix. There's not really much else to say at this point. The whole nation mourns the victims of Wednesday's crash, and we all eagerly await news about how aviation will get safer as a result. For now, we can and should all take comfort in that. The process will play out, and in the end, flying will inevitably be made safer in response to this tragedy. Zach Wichter is a travel reporter and writes the Cruising Altitude column for USA TODAY. He is based in New York and you can reach him at zwichter@
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- General
- Yahoo
A tragic plane crash over the Grand Canyon helped make flying safer in the US. Here's how
A tragic crash near the Ronald Reagan Airport in Washington left 67 dead after a commercial airliner and Army helicopter collided in midair on Wednesday night. Midair collisions are less common than they once were because of strict regulations controlling air traffic in the U.S., enacted partially as a result of a fatal Arizona plane crash nearly 70 years ago. The 1956 collision over the Grand Canyon killed more than 100 people. At the time, it was the deadliest civilian plane crash and it remains one of the worst in U.S. history. Here's everything you need to know about the deadliest plane crash in Arizona's history and the influence it left on the nation. The Grand Canyon mid-air collision was among the first commercial airline incidents to result in over 100 fatalities. On June 30, 1956, a United Airlines Douglas DC-7 crashed into a Trans World Airlines Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation over Grand Canyon National Park. Live updates: All 67 aboard plane, copter killed in tragic midair collision near DC Both planes took off from Los Angeles just after 9 a.m., but their respective flight plans were completely different, according to Nature, Culture and History at the Grand Canyon. The Douglas DC-7 (Flight 718) was headed to Chicago and would be traveling over Palm Springs. The L-1049 Super Constellation (Flight 2) was supposed to fly over the San Bernardino Mountains to reach its destination, Kansas City. So, what went wrong? Trans World Airlines Flight 2 to Kansas City hit turbulence, so Captain Jack S. Gandy requested an altitude increase of 2,000 feet. Gandy's request was denied by air traffic control, though, so his plane wouldn't cross into United Airlines Flight 718's route. Gandy then received clearance to fly 1,000 feet on top of any weather in his path. Los Angeles Air Route Traffic Control Center informed Gandy that Flight 718 would be trafficking near him. The last coherent radio communication from either plane occurred just before 10 a.m., then a missing aircraft alert was issued about an hour later. A small aircraft pilot operating for a Grand Canyon scenic flights company identified the wreckage later that day. Search-and-rescue efforts began the following morning, but it was extremely difficult. Flight 718 fell deep into the canyon near the confluence of the Colorado River and the Little Colorado River, its wreckage strewn over the southern cliff face of Chuar Butte. Flight 2 hit a rock face on the northeast terrace of Temple Butte. United Airlines utilized a special Swiss mountain rescue team. A paramedic joined rescue teams on the first few helicopter rides to the impact sites, but they soon discovered the heat of the crash had melted and fused the aluminum of the airplanes to the bedrock. All 128 people on board the planes perished. None of the remains were identified, and a mass funeral was later held in northern Arizona for the victims of Flight 2. It took two weeks to decipher a garbled transmission Aeronautical Radio Communications in Salt Lake City had picked up on the morning of the collision. The transmission came from United Airlines Flight 718. Crew members could be heard saying "We're going in" and "Pull up!" An investigation into the tragedy concluded that pilots did not see each other in time to avoid the collision. According to Nature, Culture and History at the Grand Canyon, the disaster demonstrated the consequences of an outmoded and overtaxed air transportation system. The Federal Aviation Administration was later established, partially as a result of the Grand Canyon collision. Wreckage from the catastrophe is still scattered around the canyon today. According to the Grand Canyon Visitor Center, the crash site was declared a National Historic Landmark in 2014, making it the first landmark for an event that happened in the air. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 1956 Grand Canyon plane crash: How the disaster helped form FAA
