31-01-2025
Aviation professor, pilot weighs on on D.C. plane crash
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Local experts are weighing in on the many questions surrounding Wednesday night's deadly plane crash between a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines regional jet in Washington D.C.
Shawn Pruchnicki is a professor at Ohio State University's Center for Aviation Studies and spent 10 years as a pilot. During his time flying for an airline, he was also trained in accident investigation at the NTSB Training Center and investigated several airline crashes.
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'There's questions about were they at the correct altitude,' Pruchnicki said. 'If not, why? Maybe they were supposed to be a little lower. I don't know. We don't know yet.'
According to a report by the Federal Aviation Administration obtained by the Associated Press, one air traffic controller was responsible for coordinating helicopter traffic and arriving and departing planes when the collision happened.
'At smaller airports where it's not as busy, that's very common and it's not so much a big deal,' Pruchnicki said. 'At an airport like Reagan or Laguardia or Kennedy or something like that, those airspaces are way too busy for something like that.'
Pruchnicki said air traffic control staffing is a problem that's been around for a while.
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'We've had some near midair's here in the United States over the last five or seven years and we've been able to attribute many of those to controller shortages,' Pruchnicki said. 'We have controllers working six days a week, 12-hour shifts because of the shortages, and a lot of those near-misses has been because of controller fatigue.'
According to Pruchnicki, the concept of 'see and avoid' is a common practice in aviation. He said that's where controllers become so saturated that they can't give every plane a direction to turn to stay away from other aircraft, so they hand that responsibility off to the pilot.
'The helicopter pilot was asked, 'Do you have the CRJ in sight,'' Pruchnicki said. 'And he replied, 'Yes,' and then usually what they say is maintain visual separation with that airplane.'
Though, apparently that wasn't the case this time.
'It sounds like the helicopter never got a chance to say that,' Pruchnicki said. 'We don't know exactly why that was, how close they were. Those are all the questions.'
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Pruchnicki said it's also important to keep in mind that pilots have large blind spots on a plane. This can make it especially difficult at night.
'Especially when we're down low because the airplanes are a little harder to see with lights in the background, maybe the airport or city lights and it can be easier to lose them especially when you're coming towards the side of them because they're not well lit on the side,' Pruchnicki said.
Pruchnicki said once the NTSB completes its investigation, he'll be interested to see if the FAA will be responsive to its recommendations.
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