How did a plane and a helicopter collide?

 How did a plane and a helicopter collide?

On Wednesday night, a passenger plane and a helicopter collided near Washington before crashing into the Potomac. They were carrying a total of 67 people, none of whom survived. How could this have happened? An aviation expert answers Le Devoir 's questions . An American Airlines (AA) passenger plane carrying 60 passengers and four crew members crashed shortly before 9 p.m. Wednesday night into the Potomac River in Washington after colliding with a military helicopter. There were no survivors. The three pilots of the Black Hawk helicopter, who were on a training flight, also died. It was the deadliest air crash in the United States since  November 2001

Audio recordings of the flights reveal that the pilots of AA Flight 5342 had obtained permission to land at Ronald Reagan Airport in Arlington, near Washington.

In the seconds before the crash, an air traffic controller repeatedly asked the helicopter if it had seen the AA Bombardier CRJ-700 in its path. The military pilots answered in the affirmative. The air traffic controller then asked them to go behind the airliner. Seconds later, the two planes collided. Footage captured by surveillance cameras shows a ball of fire erupting upon impact US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth acknowledged that "a mistake was made" during the military training. The collision "absolutely" could have been avoided, added US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. According to Quebec aviation expert Jean Lapointe, "the air traffic controller did what he had to do," but the pilots of the military helicopter probably made a fatal mistake. "When the American military pilots said they saw the AA plane, it is very likely that they mistook it for another aircraft," the former pilot analyses. At the time of the tragedy, the sky was clear and no mechanical problems had been reported by either aircraft.

The aircraft were about 122 meters above the ground over a densely populated area - and therefore illuminated at night - with planes taking off and landing nearby. In these conditions, it can be difficult to accurately identify another aircraft, the expert said. Jean Lapointe adds that it is likely that the pilots of the plane never saw the helicopter. "If the helicopter came from behind, it is even more difficult for them to make any evasive maneuvers whatsoever." The crash occurred in some of the most tightly controlled and monitored airspace in the world, about three miles south of the White House and Capitol Hill. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the training was part of the "continuity of government mission," which would allow the country to continue to be governed if Washington were attacked or threatened by a natural disaster. The helicopter crew was "relatively experienced" and equipped with night-vision goggles, he added. The presence of training flights in this area may seem surprising, Jean Lapointe points out. "It's been operating like this for a long time, so since there had never been a problem before, there was perhaps no reason not to do it."

As is often the case when tragedies occur, this one will probably lead to changes in some ways of doing things, he believes. The investigation will also determine whether the military pilots were on the same radio frequency as the airliner pilots. If they weren't, "it took away a protective tool," notes the former pilot. So far, 28 of the 67 bodies have been recovered. The search operation is very complex, explained Washington Fire Chief John Donnelly. "The water is cold, it's murky. It's very difficult conditions for divers. It's windy, it's icy, it's dangerous," he described. More than 300 rescuers are mobilized. Several members of the American and Russian figure skating community , who were returning from a competition in Wichita, Kansas, were on the plane, including Russians Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, who were world pairs champions in 1994. According to Jean Lapointe, the investigation should progress quickly. "All the answers will be quite easy for investigators to find because we have all the audio recordings, we even have visuals where we see the accident happening, we have the black boxes, and we have a lot of witnesses." At a press briefing Thursday morning, President Donald Trump didn’t wait for the results of the investigation to suggest, without evidence, that Democratic policies promoting diversity were to blame. “They even gave a directive: ‘Too white,’” he said of the staff of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and more specifically its air traffic controllers. “And we want competent people.”