Even in peak flying conditions the airspace around Reagan Washington National Airport can challenge the most experienced pilots.
The airspace around Washington, D.C., is congested and complex — a combination aviation experts have long worried could lead to catastrophe.Reagan Washington National Airport
As authorities piece together the nation's deadliest U.S. airline crash since 2001, the tragedy has raised new concerns about the specific dangers at Reagan National, which has seen a series of near-misses in recent years. Experts and some lawmakers said they are concerned that the airspace is about to get more congested in the wake of Congress' decision last year to ease restrictions that had limited the airport to nonstop flights within 1,250 miles of Washington, with few exceptions.
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. “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.”
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.
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.
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