Washington DC Plane/Helicopter Collision

[ThatEllie]

Is anyone awake and following this, or anyone in the States? It looks horrific. A US military Blackhawk helicopter collided with an American Airlines plane and both went down into the Potomac River.

You can see helicopters circling like mad on FlightRadar. I really hope they’re finding people.

www.nytimes.com/live/2025/01/29/us/plane-crash-washington-dc

Jet has capacity for 78 passengers so not huge but also not small.

Apparently the tower contacted the helicopter and confirmed that they could see the plane. They said they could see it, so the tower told them to fly behind it as it came in to land. They must have gotten disoriented.

There was another plane coming in to land on a different trajectory. I think the helicopter pilot focused on that one and didn't see the one in front of them. The helicopter was on a training flight. So damn sad.

No idea what to make of that? Can you expand? What is a Doomsday plane and what's the significance of it landing 45m from the airport?

Or just totally foreseeable due to said sackings?

Crash land potentially, yes, but the impact with the helicopter will have distorted options, for want of a better phrase until more specifics are known.

@Vitamindes i thought that too - cause and effect?

I don’t think it’s got anything to do with the sackings either intentionally or as a consequence of them. Those positions were too far removed from this level of flight safety to make a difference, certainly so quickly. I suspect it will be human error, too busy a flight area combination. The latter part of the point may be swept under the carpet and full blame placed on the pilot.

Hopefully there’s a robust investigation. Not sure who will get to investigate, the CAA or the military or both! Have realised it won’t be the CAA in the us…..so whatever their version is? Federal aviation? Edited -NTSB apparently

FAA, yes.

Lot of speculation, I too have seen experienced pilots say it seems likely from ATC transcripts that the chopper was focused on a different plane.

Also the helicopter reportedly had its collision alert transponder switched off, which if true is just 😥

What is a Doomsday Plane? Sorry for ignorance.

What a truly awful accident.

They seem to be reporting no survivors.

You would have not thought something like this was possible in a country like the US - I always take comfort from knowing these big airlines in 1st world countries have so many rules, that flying is so safe.

I would also like to know what a Doomsday plane is.

@Anonymouse27 @MabelMora .
Found this on wiki as I was not sure either

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_plane

AI Overview
Learn more

A doomsday plane is a military aircraft designed to survive a nuclear war and be used as a command post in an emergency. The United States and Russia are the only countries known to have doomsday planes.

U.S. Doomsday Planes
E-4B
The E-4B is a fleet of four aircraft that are part of the U.S. Air Force. They are capable of withstanding nuclear blasts and electromagnetic effects, and can refuel mid-air. The E-4B is also known as the National Airborne Operations Center or Nightwatch.

Survivable Airborne Operations Center (SAOC)
The SAOC is a new doomsday plane that will replace the E-4B. The Air Force awarded a $13 billion contract to Sierra Nevada Corp to develop the SAOC. The SAOC is expected to be completed in 2036.

Russian Doomsday Plane

The Russian Doomsday plane is an Airborne Command Post that will be operated by the Russian Air Force. It will be based on the Ilyushin Il-96-400-M commercial aircraft airframe.
Doomsday plane - Wikipedia
Doomsday plane is an unofficial denomination of a class of aircraft which is used as an airborne command post in an event of nucle...

Wikipedia

Boeing E-4 - Wikipedia
An E-4 at El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá, Colombia. The E-4 fleet was originally deployed in 1974, when it was termed N...

Wikipedia

The “Doomsday” Plane - Weekly Column - Senator Deb Fischer
12 Jul 2024 — In a case like this, the government would need a survivable, mobile headquarters for nuclear command and control operat...

Senator Deb Fischer (.gov)

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Generative AI is experimental.

I've just seen the news on this. How awful and reminds me of 1982 when a plane crashed into a bridge over the Potomac and fell into the river. It was famous because a bystander on the bridge jumped into the freezing river to save someone.

There were many air crashes and disasters in the 1980's, but they seem much rarer now, thank goodness, presumably with improvements in safety; it's such a shock.

they dont know about survivors yet

CNN are saying that they have pulled bodies out of the water, but not how many

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/live-blog/live-updates-plane-crashes-potomac-river-collision-helicopter-reagan-n-rcna189942

I wonder where other sites have been getting their information from as earlier on someone said that there were 18, yet if you watched the press conference that was on aroud 6:00, the mayor was not saying anything about numbers

I heard someone interviewed say its actually quite difficult to see a plane in the dark from behind, not as many lights visible.

What a terrible accident. It’s one of my fears when travelling

the helicopter was on a training flight i just read

any reason why you can't google?

It was The Guardian that mentioned 18 bodies and four survivors so far.

Any reason why you have to be so snippy? The poster who mentioned it seemed to have some idea of its significance/has an opinion about it, so pretty appropriate to ask them for more info.

Heard just now on radio news- {maybe a technical fault?}

Dreadful.

Nope. Crashing in to water is catastrophic and more likely to end in deaths, not less likely. The surface tension of water is as hard as concrete.

Rumours circulating that some young US figure skaters, parents and their Russian coaches were on the flight.