0:00 how did an American Airlines plane and a Blackhawk helicopter end up in a tragic crash while the plane was attempting to land on Runway 33 in the videos ahead we'll take a closer look at the final hours leading up to the crash the confusion between the pap 25 VIP military helicopter and the air traffic controller and how the rescue operation is being carried out more details all in the video ahead the plane and departed from WI a Dwight D Eisen to National Airport in Kansas earlier that evening a PSA Airlines aircraft operated under American Airlines and identified as flight aa5342 collided midair with a military Blackhawk helicopter at approximately 9:00 p.m. on Wednesday January 29th
0:48 2025 the tragic incident occurred as the plane was making its Final Approach toward Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington Virginia American Airlines confirmed that 64 people were aboard the jet 60 passengers and four crew members while three soldiers were aboard the military helicopter this plane's radio transponder stopped transmitting about 2,400 ft which is around 730 M short of the runway roughly over the middle of the river this has marked the first major US commercial crash in more than 15 years from an aerial perspective is evident that flight a A5 342 was approaching the airport from the south descending over the scenic pon omic River this area is known for its proximity to several iconic landmarks
1:34 such as the Pentagon located nearby in Pentagon City to the north one can spot the Striking Dome of the United States capital building a symbol of American democracy the pic river which encircles the airport and much of Arlington serves as a natural boundary and offers breathtaking views for arriving flights however this area is also densely trafficked both by air and on the ground adding to the complexity of air traffic traffic Management in the region American Airlines flight 5342 which will refer to as the landing flight was on its Final Approach to Runway 33 at this stage called short final the aircraft was mere moments from Landing flying at an altitude of about 400 ft this is the most critical phase of Landing where every second counts and
2:21 Pilots are laser focused on safely bringing the plane down at the same time an army Blackhawk helicopter identified as pack 25 was reportedly on a possible training flight it was flying perpendicular to the flight path of flight 5342 following the course of the pomac river the pomac river is a designated flight Corridor for helicopters and it's common to see aircraft like this operating in the area the key difference between the two aircraft in this scenario was their operating rules the blackhot helicopter Pat 25 was flying under visual flight rules this means it was required to rely on visual observation of its surroundings to avoid other air aircraft The Landing flight 5342 was operating under instrument flight rules which give it priority over
3:06 VFR flights in controlled airspace this system assumes that VFR aircraft will actively maintain visual separation to avoid conflicts moments before the Collision the air traffic control tower at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport called Pat 25 to confirm whether they had the other aircraft in sight pack 25 responded that they did at first glance this seems like an acknowledge M that they were aware of flight 53 42's presence and were taking steps to avoid it however it now seems likely that pack 25 had mistakenly identified a different aircraft possibly a departing flight from the same airport and believed that was the other aircraft referred to by the tower tragically Pat 25 may not have realized that flight 5342 was descending
3:52 directly into its path this misidentification could have led to the Blackhawk failing to adjust its course in time to avoid a collision although I'm not a pilot this is what appears to have happened based on the available information it's a heartbreaking incident that raises questions about how such misunderstandings can occur and what safety measures can prevent them in the future if you have more insight or expertise please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments the passenger plane broke into multiple pieces and sank several feet into the river meanwhile the helicopter ended up Landing upside down on the water regarding the rescue mission the main challenge is access the water they're working in is about 8 ft deep which is roughly 2.5 M on top of that the conditions are tough there's strong wind trunks of ice floating around which
4:39 obstructs rescue workers we also have audio from Air Traffic Control that has been published online capturing the moments as the two aircraft approach each other in the recording we can hear a conversation fight it appears to involve the air traffic controller with P standing for priority Air transport report the helicopter and crj referring to the passenger plane crj the response seems to come from a helicopter but something goes terribly wrong has airra the two aircraft continue and move closer to each other until they crash and there was no response from the other side this long shot video recorded by the Kenby Center cam seems to show two
5:26 aircraft a helicopter and a commercial airliner colliding creating a huge flash if you take a close-up shot you can clearly see the Blackhawk helicopter traveling at an alarmingly high speed directly towards the plane a moment of impending danger captured in Stark detail according to reports the situation unfolded due to apparent confusion on the part of the Blackhawk pilot he was seemingly unaware of the presence of a second aircraft in the vicinity which ultimately led to a critical misjudgment when the flight controller radioed in asking if the pilot had identified flight 5342 the pilot confidently confirmed that he had visual contact however the plane he was referring to wasn't flight 5342 it was a completely different aircraft flying above his position this
6:13 misidentification proved costly the pilot certain he was operating safely continued his course tragically he ended up flying directly into the path of an oncoming aircraft the sequence of events highlights the immense complexity and risks of Aviation where even small communication errors or lapses in situational awareness can lead to dangerous life-threatening outcomes let's take a look at a different case scenario of a juu airflight 2216 this South Korean Airline was granted permission to land from the south on Runway one northward but control tower cautions against Bird activity so the aircraft made a slight deviation in flight path the pilot declares Mayday after it hit a couple of birds and it was instructed to make a go around and land on Runway 19
6:58 softward it was at this moment the airplane encountered another problem with the landing gear which did not open finally the plane had to make a belly landing with what was supposedly a landing gear failure because it hit in the middle of the runway and crashed into the elevated local lizer antena and concrete erupting into a huge Fireball while the tail section remained intact morning 857 a TC broadcast a cautionary advisory about Bird activity in the vicinity of the airport report 859 the pilot of flight 7 C2 216 reports at bird strike declares an emergency with repeated this is what he said Mayday Mayday Mayday calls and notifies a TC with the
7:43 message bird strike bird strike go round just 1 minute after the bird strike at 9:00 the flight initiates a go round maneuver and requests authorization to land on Runway 19 which requires an approach from the opposite end of the airport single Runway that is from the north to the South which is not the actual Landing procedure usually then Land from the south to the north 9:01 in the morning ATC clears the aircraft to land on Runway 19 92 local time the aircraft touches down on the runway approximately 1,200 M which translates to 3,940 Ft from the threshold of the 2,800 M this is around 9,184 Ft Runway 9:02 and 55 seconds
8:32 later the airport fire Rescue Unit completes the deployment of fire rescue equipment 903 flight 7c 2216 overshoots the runway and crashes into a hill like structure beyond the runway's end which later on we came to know that it hit the localizer antenna and its adjacent concrete embankment and finally we have a missile attack plane crash at 10:43 a.m. kazak time which Russia's rostov Air Traffic Control Center received a signal indicating that the crew had decided to divert the flight to ACTA due to adverse weather conditions in Baku and makatala a city in Russia's dagistan region at 10:53 a.m. the rosto flight director informed Ecto flight manager that an oxygen tank
9:18 in the passenger cabin had exploded this explosion reportedly caused passengers to lose Consciousness prompting the crew to request immediate medical assistance upon Landing emergency teams were swiftly mobilized at actop airport in preparation for the aircraft's arrival at 11:2 a.m. the pilots made contact with ACTA Airport's air traffic control tower despite their efforts the crew faced significant challenges during their descent they attempted to land twice but were unable to maintain altitude or stabilize the aircraft tragically at 11:28 a.m. contact with the crew was lost and moments later the plane crashed the ground this means the plane was hit between 10 30 to 10:53 a.m. kazak time by the Russian anti-air defense system
10:05 in this scenario the plane is flying a significantly higher altitude rendering the Cannons ineffective consequently the system opts to deploy a missile as the optimal weapon for engagement the missile is launched vertically from its sealed chemister it uses its Advanced onboard guidance system to navigate with Precision towards the designated Target as the missile approaches its onboard sensors continue to track the civilian aircraft which in this case Is tragically identified as an azeron civilian aircraft the missile carries a 25 kg high explosive Warhead upon reaching the target the Warhead detonates releasing an intense explosion the explosion occurs near the side of the aircraft causing catastrophic damage to its tail section the resulting shrapnel penetrates the fuselage
10:50 inflicting severe termal structural damage this devastating impact destabilizes the aircraft leading to an uncontrollable descent this severely damaged plane crashes near actop airport resulting in a tragic loss of life and a devastating outcome for all those on board we make original videos from scratch so please do subscribe and hit the notification Bell for more videos
