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USA Today
12-02-2025
- USA Today
Go-arounds, diversions and other flight disruptions are perfectly safe
Go-arounds, diversions and other flight disruptions are perfectly safe | Cruising Altitude Show Caption Hide Caption Flying will be even safer after the DCA crash Lessons learned from tragic plane crashes helps the aviation industry as a whole become even safer. Aborted landings, diversions, and holding patterns are all routine procedures designed to enhance air travel safety. Pilots undergo rigorous training to handle unexpected situations, ensuring passenger well-being. Despite recent incidents, flying remains the safest mode of transportation due to stringent regulations and continuous industry improvements. Travelers are understandably a little on edge about flying these days. Just weeks after the first fatal crash of a U.S. airliner in nearly 16 years and following a handful of other high-profile aviation incidents since, many people are left wondering if flying is still the safest way to get around. Anecdotally, my colleagues and I at USA TODAY have seen an uptick in questions from readers about what it means when something that seems unusual happens on their flight. One email a fellow reporter received a few days ago came from a passenger whose flight was about to arrive at Ronald Reagan National Airport when it abruptly pulled back up into the air and circled around before landing safely. The reader wanted to know if that was anything to be concerned about. Aviation professionals I've spoken to in recent weeks want travelers to be assured: flying is still safe and procedures like the one our reader mentioned are not only routine, they're actually designed to make air travel even safer. 'Traveling by air is extremely, by far, the safest mode of travel and the fastest,' Laura Einsetler, a captain at a major U.S. airline and author of the Captain Laura blog, told me. 'When you have two very experienced, highly trained professionals at the front, we are redundant to each other and we put our lives on the line every day to keep everyone safe.' Still, Einsetler and others acknowledged, for passengers who don't fly every day, any deviation can be jarring. Here are some of the procedures that don't happen on every flight, but that are safe and normal when they do occur. My flight aborted its landing: Is that safe? This may be one of the most surprising maneuvers for passengers. Your flight is coming in to land, the wheels may have even touched the runway, and suddenly the plane is accelerating again and climbing rapidly back into the sky. These aborted landings or go-arounds are something pilots train for and are prepared to execute at a moment's notice. 'When we go around, in the moment it's jarring because you're not expecting it, so obviously that scares the passengers a lot,' Andrew Henderson, a flight attendant at a major U.S. airline and one of the authors of the Two Guys on a Plane blog, told me. 'It could be a number of things, a stick blew across the runway, there's not enough space between airplanes, it's just someone saying 'wait, hold on a second.' ' Go arounds can happen for any number of reasons, but if the pilots or air traffic control suspect the plane won't be able to touch down and stay down safely, the aircraft circles for another shot. 'These are things that we are trained for, that we are experienced in. It might feel a little bit out of the norm but it's not out of the norm for us as pilots. (Passengers) should also understand that these types of things help keep them safe,' Einsetler said. 'Maybe it has to do with weather, maybe it has to do with spacing, air space, traffic congestion. We take those precautions, they're really precautionary and sometimes necessary.' Is it safe that my flight landed at a different airport? Another not-so-common but perfectly standard disruption is a flight diversion. That's when a plane needs to land somewhere other than the airport it was scheduled to fly to, and it can happen for any number of reasons. Weather at the destination is one of the most common causes – high winds or poor visibility can make landing dangerous, for example, so pilots and controllers may decide it's best to touch down somewhere else. Unexpected runway closures or other operational difficulties can also cause planes to divert. 'Although it might be an inconvenience for the passengers, they need to know it's to keep everyone, not only them but everyone else in the national airspace safe,' Einsetler said. Part of pilots' preparation for every flight includes identifying diversion airports along the route in case doing so becomes necessary. 'It's a standard operating procedure that pilots follow to ensure safety. If anything, it's just an added layer of safety,' Rich Henderson, Andrew's husband and co-author of Two Guys on a Plane, told me. 'I think it's important to realize, this means the pilots and (air traffic control) and everyone is collaborating together to make sure everything runs smoothly and safely.' Last week's Cruising Altitude: Investigations don't undo air crashes but they prevent tragic repeats. Why is my flight circling the airport? Possibly one of the most common flight disruptions is going into a holding pattern. It's so normal, flight crews rarely even think about it when it happens. 'Holding is very common, it's basically a parking garage in the sky, there's a designated airspace for us to circle around,' Andrew told me. 'If you find out that you're holding it just means that we're waiting for the weather to clear or to make a plan for when we can go because there are so many airplanes in the sky they need to figure out where we can go.' Passengers may not even notice it's happening, especially if the hold doesn't last for long. Why flying is still so safe In flying, even when something doesn't go exactly to plan, that doesn't mean it's going wrong. 'We have 90,000 flights a day that go out around the world safely, that take off and land,' Einsetler said. 'We have very tight, very strict, extremely high standards when it comes to aircraft manufacturing, the FAA, our regulations.' Still, she said, she understands why travelers may be a little on edge right now, but she encourages everyone to keep flying, and wants passengers to be assured that the industry will only continue to get safer. 'We make those necessary changes, we learn, always, from any aspect of aviation that happens so that we can continue to improve on the excellent safety record that we do have.' 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@
USA Today
31-01-2025
- General
- USA Today
A 'unfortunate chain of events': Pilots share thoughts on DC plane crash
AI-assisted summary Air traffic control audio suggests the helicopter crew may have misidentified the incoming passenger plane, potentially due to limited visibility and the use of night-vision goggles. Some experts and lawmakers have raised concerns about congestion at Reagan National Airport, suggesting it may have contributed to the collision. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the incident and expects to release a preliminary report in approximately 30 days. There are still plenty of questions on what led to Wednesday night's deadly mid-air collision between a passenger plane and an Army helicopter, but pilots who spoke to USA TODAY say a misinterpretation between the helicopter and air traffic control and limited visibility may have played roles. American Airlines Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kansas, was getting ready to land at Ronald Reagan National Airport when it collided with a Black Hawk helicopter around 9 p.m. Officials said there were no survivors, with all 64 people aboard the passenger plane and three soldiers on the helicopter killed. Investigations are ongoing. "We simply don't have all the facts yet, and they won't come out until they get all the black boxes," or data recorders installed on aircraft, said Chris Palmer, a commercial pilot and founder of online ground school Angle of Attack. "We have to be careful about jumping to conclusions." What caused the fatal mid-air collision?Key questions about plane crash Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle. What we know from air traffic control audio Air traffic control audio indicates that the helicopter crew was aware – or at least believed they were aware – of the incoming passenger plane flagged by an air traffic controller. Per audio from a respected source for in-flight recording, Reagan National Airport air traffic control asked the helicopter crew if they had spotted the plane and asked them to pass behind it. The pilot told the control tower that it had the aircraft "in sight.' The collision followed seconds later, leading some pilots to speculate that the helicopter crew had misidentified the plane they were supposed to be on the lookout for. The helicopter crew 'must have been looking at something else, misconstrued what (air traffic control) was saying,' said Laura Einsetler, a commercial pilot for a major U.S. airline and author of the Captain Laura blog. 'You misidentify, and then the crew takes their eye off things for a few seconds, and that's all it takes. It's just a really unfortunate chain of events,' added Palmer. 'It's just one of those things that seem like human error.' Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the helicopter crew had been carrying night-vision goggles. Einsetler said these can reduce visual depth perception, although vision may have been difficult even without the goggles at that altitude and time of day. 'At night, your visual acuity goes down. From the perspective of the Black Hawk pilot, the regional jet is going to look dark. The river looks dark. The runway looks dark. There's a lot of city and airport lighting in the background,' she said. 'Everything blends in.' 'To me, it seems they didn't see the right airplane, and those visual illusions kicked in and they weren't able to see and avoid the aircraft,' Palmer said. President Donald Trump on Thursday said the helicopter should have been flying at a different elevation and "should have seen where they were going." "What was the helicopter doing in that track? Very sad," Trump said during a White House press briefing. "But visually, somebody should have been able to see and taken that helicopter out of play, and they should have been at a different height." It's unclear whether the plane or helicopter were outside their designated airspace. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., a ranking member of the U.S. Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation, said she would be requesting information on their flight patterns, as previously reported by USA TODAY. Lawmakers say Reagan National Airport too congested Some have questioned whether congestion at Reagan National Airport – among the busiest airports in the country – played a role in Wednesday's collision. Lawmakers from Maryland and Virginia last year had argued that the airspace around the airport was too congested, and voted against a bill that would add more round-trip flights to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. The bill was signed into law in May. In a February statement, four senators called the move a 'profoundly reckless decision' that would overburden Reagan National Airport's runway. 'The Committee is gambling with the safety of everyone who uses this airport,' the letter reads. 'Forcing the airport to cram additional flights in its already crowded schedule will further strain its resources at a time when air traffic controllers are overburdened and exhausted, working 10-hour days, six days a week.' Einsetler, who said she has flown into Reagan National Airport "many times,' said it is a 'very busy airspace' with the military, commercial airlines and corporate aviation operating in and out. 'As the investigators go forward, there will probably be some rulings made as to how the combination of all those things operate within the same airspace,' she said. Robert Clifford, an aviation attorney with experience with commercial airline disasters, said he's pushing for an immediate halt of military aircraft using the airspace 'until they sort this out.' 'It's long known within local Washingtonian circles that there's a lot of congestion at the Reagan airport,' Clifford said. 'You have this cross-pollination of use by the commercial operators and the military in an area that's restricted because it's right next door to the capital.' More details are expected after investigators examine black boxes and conduct witness interviews. Trump said the collision is being investigated by the National Transportation Security Board and the military. NTSB said Thursday it expects to release a preliminary report in about 30 days. "Today, we embark on a long journey of grief, recovery, and fact-gathering," reads a statement from Jason Ambrosi, president of the Air Line Pilots Association, a pilots' union. "A lot of details and speculation will come out in response to this tragedy, but we must remember to let the investigation run its course."
