Folks, the collision between American Eagle Flight 5342 & Sikorsky UH-60L 00-26860, PAT25 had nothing to do with DEI policies. Sometimes, i wish Trump would just keep his mouth shut... or wait until the official investigation is over at least! In the meantime, here's my investigation...

Further Reading: https://apnews.com/article/american-airlines-5342-blackhawk-reagan-national-airport-81a43f2ba5cc59cbe9273fa593f1e9cf

Retired U.S. Army National Guard pilot Darrell Feller said the crash this week reminded him of an incident he experienced a decade ago when he was flying a military helicopter south along the Potomac River near Reagan National.

An air traffic controller advised him to be on the lookout for a jetliner landing on Runway 3-3, an approach that requires planes to fly directly over the route used by military and law enforcement helicopters transiting the nation’s capital.

Feller was unable to pick out the oncoming jetliner against the lights of the city and cars on a nearby bridge. He immediately descended, skimming just 50 feet over the water to ensure the descending jetliner would pass over him.

“I could not see him. I lost him in the city lights,” Feller, who retired from the Army in 2014, recounted Thursday. “It did scare me.”

Feller’s experience was eerily similar to what experts said may have happened with the crew of the Army helicopter Wednesday shortly before 9 p.m. as they flew south along the Potomac and collided with an American Airlines Flight 5342 landing at Runway 3-3.

As the American Airlines jet approached the airport, air traffic controllers asked its pilots if they could land on Runway 3-3 rather than the longer — and busier — north-south runway. The jet’s pilots altered their approach, heading over the east bank of the Potomac before heading back over the river to land on 3-3.

Less than 30 seconds before the crash, an air traffic controller asked the Army helicopter if it had the American Airlines plane in sight, and the military pilot responded that he did. The controller then instructed the Black Hawk to pass behind the jet. Seconds after that last transmission, the two aircraft collided in a fireball.

Feller, who served as an instructor pilot for the D.C. National Guard, said he had several rules for new pilots to avoid such collisions. He warned them to stay below the mandated 200-foot ceiling for helicopters. And he urged them to be on guard for planes landing on 3-3 because they could be difficult to spot.

Those planes’ “landing lights are not pointed directly at you,” Feller said, adding that those lights also get “mixed up with ground lights, with cars.”

Wednesday’s crash was reminiscent of a deadly collision in 1949, when Washington’s airspace was considerably less crowded. A passenger plane on final approach to what is now Reagan Airport collided with a military plane, plunging both aircraft to the Potomac River and killing 55 people. At the time, it was the deadliest air crash in the U.S.

Jack Schonely, a retired Los Angeles Police Department helicopter pilot, said he’s been a passenger on helicopter rides through D.C. and was always struck by how complicated it seems for the pilots.

“You’ve got two large airports. You’ve got multiple restricted areas. You’ve got altitude restrictions. Routine restrictions, and a lot of air traffic,” he said. “There’s a lot going on in a tight area.”

Robert Clifford, an aviation attorney, said the U.S. government should temporarily halt military helicopter flights in the airspace used by commercial airlines near Reagan National.

“I can’t get over how stunningly clear it is that this was a preventable crash and this should never, ever have occurred,” Clifford said. “There have been discussions for some time about the congestion associated with that and the potential for disaster. And we saw it come home last night.”