0:00 a quick update on the disaster that just happened in Washington DC between the Regional Jet and the Army National Guard helicopter Pat 25 where the two aircraft collided just short of final for Runway 33 at DCA here's what we know so far my name is Juan Brown you're watching The Blanco Lio channel the airspace coming into DCA is extremely busy including two prohibited areas just to the north of the airport and The Joint Base Bowling located right up here the RJ Regional Jet a crj700 coming in from witchat to DCA operated by PSA Airlines for American Eagle was cleared for the approach to Runway one not sure if it was the instrument approach or the river visual approach to Runway one Circle the land
0:48 to Runway 33 so what that means is the RJ flies the approach to this Runway one the long Runway and then side steps around here to a left dog leg entry to Runway 33 the relatively short Runway about 5200 ft long here at Washington DC a very demanding approach this crew is focused on this approach this midair Collision occurred below just below 400 ft above the ground the National Guard helicopter believed to be either a uh60 or vh60 Victor h60 was presumably operating out of joint base bowling located right here here's where the the helicopters operate out of they have this procedure where they can Dart across the PO the pamic
1:36 river right across the Final Approach for these Airlines this is an approved procedure looking at the video widely published on social media here comes the Regional Jet we are looking to the South the Regional Jet is heading towards us doing the approach to Runway one and S set stepping to Runway 33 here is the helicopter the uh or vh60 helicopter approaching from our left this is and he's approaching the to the right side of the aircraft coming from Joint Base Bowling and the two Collide right there now let's review the ATC
2:22 data first let's check this out from adsb exchange where the two aircraft came together so here you can see the Regional Jet Jo doing the Sid step maneuver to Runway 33 so kind of a left dog leg B base entry this is all done visually to Runway 33 and the helicopter coming out of bowling and crossing right into its path we'll listen to this audio just to get an idea of just how busy this airspace is leading up to the Collision take off
3:09 appr all of these communications are in real time Z approv Fair [Applause] sep 472 3 okay that was it that was the Collision did you hear the communications Pat 25 is the call sign of the military transport helicopter that's priority Air transport we believe
3:55 this is one of the gold top helicopters out of Washington DC and the the tower at DCA says Pat 25 do you have the crj in sight now I believe the helicopters are operating on a separate frequency from the crj so I don't believe the crj hears the helicopters but all this is being controlled by the tower there at DCA so the tower says Pat 25 do you have the crj in sight Pat 25 responds have the crj in sight request visual separation standard procedure and then the tower clears Pat 25 to pass behind the crj for whatever reason the helicopter
4:41 did not see and avoid the crj and ran right into them here's the Flight Aware data for the crj it looks like the crj was cleared for the ILS straight in approach to Runway one not the visual and then did the side step to Runway 33 and looking at the track log the crj was on a perfectly stabilized approach in other words the crj was exactly where he was supposed to be doing exactly what he was supposed to be doing according to initial news reports the helicopter involved was army uh60 or one of these gold top vh60 helicopters operated by Bravo Company 12th Aviation
5:27 Battalion Davidson Army Air field on a training flight so there were three just three crew members on board the helicopter at the time of the Collision there were no VIPs being transported at the time of the Collision regarding tcast the traffic collision avoidance system it's believed that the helicopter had this equipment on board these Regional Jets certainly had this air this equipment on board but remember tcast does not give an RA or a resolution advisory below 1 ,000 ft so instead you will just get the traffic traffic and the diamond lighting up on your screen but it will not tell you to climb or descend below 1,000 ft because you're simply too low to be given a
6:13 descending resolution advisory that would descend you right into the water or right into the terrain So Below 1,000 ft tcast resolution advisories are inhibited the weather was good at the time of the accident the winds were gusting out of the North 15 Gus 26 knots but for whatever reason the helicopter pilot did not see and avoid the crj as he was directed by ATC and as he responded to ATC saying that he would pass behind the crj investigators will need to determine did the helicopter have even have his transponder on and operational what were the two different frequencies that these Pilots were operating on and this background lighting can make it difficult to see
7:00 these objects at night and the bright Landing Lights of the crj you're not going to see if you're approaching them from a beam or did the helicopter crew confuse this aircraft that was taking off for the crj but that aircraft would have been well off to the helicopter Crews right the first major airline aviation accident here in the United States since 2009 do we get more information we'll post it here see you here
