Washington DC Plane Crash Latest: American Airlines Jet Collides with Army helicopter, 19 bodies recovered from 67 feared dead

With three deadly events involving passenger rays in five weeks, it is understandable that some people will conclude that the risks are increasing, writes Independent’s travel correspondent, Simon Calder.

In fact, this decade is so much safer than any previous magic formula. The three crashes have had completely different causes, all of which are extremely rare: Azerbaijan Airlines, shot by the Russian aircraft over Grozny on Christmas Day.

It was the first flight tragedy involving a passenger beam in 2024

Jeju Air, four days later, crashed under circumstances that have not yet been fully explained but which seems to have involved a bird strike. American Airlines, a collision in the air in life.

Lessons will be learned by all these tragedies and will contribute to future air safety.

Britain and Ireland have the world’s best air safety.

The last fatal accident involved a British passenger beam was in the 1980s -Kegworth disaster.

The safest airline all over the world by PA

An American Airlines 5342 that seemed like a PSA Airlines jet collided with an American army Sikorsky Blackhawk helicopter because both flew near Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington DC about 21 local time Wednesday.

All 67 people aboard both aircraft are dreaded dead, Sa Kansas -Senator Roger Marshall Wednesday evening.

None of the helicopter’s three crew were higher army officials, the authorities said.

Nearly 20 bodies have been recycled from the water, according to several networks.

All flights in and out of Washington, DC’s Ronald Reagan National Airport have been founded until at least 11.00 Thursday.

Madeline Sherratt Has the details.

The National Transport Safety Board investigators will study in a huge detail the sequence of events that led to tragedy.

In many accidents, a sequence of unlikely and unexpected events is combined to cause a crash.

There has been a lot of speculation, including from President Trump, for possible causes. Much of this is unhelpful and worrying.

An American helicopter instructor and former CRJ pilot, Philip Greenspun, has put up some thoughts on what may have gone wrong.

He writes: “A review of ATC (Air Traffic Control) recording shows that there was plenty of room for human errors.”

Dr. Greensspun speculated that the black hawk pilots may have said they could see the close -up aircraft while they were actually looking at another plane.

“The most likely explanation is that Black Hawk Crew and DCA Tower talked about two different aircraft (ie talk past each other),” he writes.

He later added: “There were some excellent people with excellent training in the aircraft, in the tower and in Black Hawk. Everyone worked in the most restrictive airspace with low altitude (class B) that we have in the US and under time -tested rules that have ensured security despite congestion.

“At the same time, however, we have the restrictions in a natural language (English) and the human brain, which can clamp and connect us to the first probable aircraft it sees.”

The independent ‘S veteran correspondent Simon Calder will continue to provide an analysis of the event throughout the morning.

Thankfully they are extremely rare, says The IndependentS Travel -Correspondent, Simon Calder.

On average, it has been one per year so far this century, most involved small private aircraft and – or – helicopters.

All pilots and air traffic controllers are focused on avoiding other “traffic” in the sky. All major passenger aircraft are equipped with a traffic collision system, known as TCAS.

If a potential threat is identified, the system will issue a “resolution advice”. Usually an airplane will be instructed to climb and the other is told to go down. Pilots are obliged to carry out the maneuver specified in the resolution advice even if it is contrary to instructions from air traffic controllers.

The Washington tragedy involved a military helicopter, which has much different operational properties than a fixed aircraft. It is not known if it was equipped with TCAs, but at least the system is hampered when aircraft is very close to the ground.

At least 19 bodies have been recycled from the site of the air accident, according to the BBC.

With reference to two sources near the search and rescue effort, NBC Washington reports that the crews have “recovered the bodies of people who died in the crash”.