Benjamin Katz
Appearances
The Journal.
A Plane Crash, Warning Signs and an Investigation
You know, that day there'd been probably about 700 flights, that's takeoffs and landings from Reagan National.
The Journal.
A Plane Crash, Warning Signs and an Investigation
It's a really interesting question. I think the scale of it has surprised me. The fact that there was a collision, less so.
The Journal.
A Plane Crash, Warning Signs and an Investigation
So it's unique in multiple ways. You know, if you had to compare it to a hub airport, say in Chicago, which deals with big scheduled passenger planes that are kind of traveling in, the schedules are, you know, known well in advance. There's a lot more kind of ad hoc activity happening.
The Journal.
A Plane Crash, Warning Signs and an Investigation
And then suddenly flight 5342 got a call from air traffic controllers asking if they would, instead of coming into the primary runway at Reagan National, instead take runway 33.
The Journal.
A Plane Crash, Warning Signs and an Investigation
At Reagan National, we're dealing with, you know, a lot of passengers, but also a lot of VIPs, a lot of government officials, a lot of politicians, a lot of military personnel. So it's really quite a busy airport. It's also really close to a military base. And because of that, the congestion around the airport has been kind of a major topical issue that has concerned a lot of people.
The Journal.
A Plane Crash, Warning Signs and an Investigation
It's a really interesting question. And I think kind of as the reporting kind of goes out, we're starting to learn a little bit more about this. But essentially, there is a taxi surface that is effectively run by the military. These kind of aircrafts like the Black Hawk, the Sikorsky H-60 that was involved in this collision,
The Journal.
A Plane Crash, Warning Signs and an Investigation
It's typically used to ferry, you know, VIP guests to, you know, to and around DC, government officials, generals. In the case of an emergency, if there were ever an attack on DC or towards the president, you know, the president may be escorted or evacuated via helicopter, you know, throughout or through these pathways.
The Journal.
A Plane Crash, Warning Signs and an Investigation
So there are very legitimate reasons for why these helicopters are operating there. Our understanding at the moment, although, you know, this could still evolve, is that The helicopter involved in Wednesday's collision was doing a training exercise, training to run those paths.
The Journal.
A Plane Crash, Warning Signs and an Investigation
It's definitely been getting worse. You know, what we've seen is a lot of politicians, Senate leaders, you know, who are running to D.C. and back, you know, a lot of government officials have been pushing for their states to be kind of represented, you know, so to speak, in the flight paths to and from Reagan Nationals.
The Journal.
A Plane Crash, Warning Signs and an Investigation
So there's often a lot of kind of tussling over who gets the direct flight from Reagan National.
The Journal.
A Plane Crash, Warning Signs and an Investigation
Reagan National itself was built really to handle about 15 million passengers a year. In 2023, it handled 25 million. So you can already see just by the footfall, you know, how much more this airport is handling just in terms of people and aircraft.
The Journal.
A Plane Crash, Warning Signs and an Investigation
The FAA has a huge mandate, right? It's managing airspace, it's managing air traffic controllers, but it's also managing, regulating Boeing and aircraft manufacturing, the engine makers. You know, the FAA is also constantly under a microscopic lens, right? I mean, the whole world looks to the FAA for guidance.
The Journal.
A Plane Crash, Warning Signs and an Investigation
So air traffic controllers, kind of one of the biggest hits here is that they're difficult to train. It takes time, at least a year, to really come to grips with the technology that you use to be an air traffic controller, to understand the radar systems. It's a very in-depth, very professionalized job and career. Obviously, the U.S. has been dealing with labor shortages kind of across the board.
The Journal.
A Plane Crash, Warning Signs and an Investigation
But then you add to this the the long turnaround times in just getting someone new and putting them in an air traffic control tower. The industry has also been battling with this loss of experience. During the pandemic, we saw a lot of people leave the industry. It's one thing to be qualified to be an air traffic controller and it's another thing to have been doing it for 40 years.
The Journal.
A Plane Crash, Warning Signs and an Investigation
And less than a minute later, there was a sudden alert inside the air traffic control tower.
The Journal.
A Plane Crash, Warning Signs and an Investigation
If you're brand new to the job and you're surrounded by other people who are brand new to the job, you may also be tired or exhausted because your shifts are longer than they should be or you haven't had a break in a long time. You know, the stresses of that can really affect you and your ability to properly manage airspace.
The Journal.
A Plane Crash, Warning Signs and an Investigation
We've definitely been keeping track of that increase. You know, cases where big aircraft have nearly collided, whether that's on approach towards an airport, whether that's an aircraft that's been landing while another has been taking off.
The Journal.
A Plane Crash, Warning Signs and an Investigation
For pilots, this airport is scary. It's a very difficult airport to land at. The congestion is very hard. At nighttime, especially, there's low visibility because of the lights of the city that kind of interfere with what pilots can see.
The Journal.
A Plane Crash, Warning Signs and an Investigation
The activity of military aircraft around the area, as well as the proximity to, you know, helicopters, both commercial, freight, and military, you know, it makes it an incredibly complex and congested area to fly into. So this really is kind of the melting pot for where it can potentially go all wrong.
The Journal.
A Plane Crash, Warning Signs and an Investigation
The helicopter crew acknowledged that they were aware of the aircraft, and then 15 or so seconds later, the two aircraft collided. 67 people have died. The search and rescue teams are still trying to recover all of the bodies.
The Journal.
A Plane Crash, Warning Signs and an Investigation
We know that the aircraft was rerouted to land at a different runway, and that happened, you know, only less than a minute maybe before the collision happened. There's a question mark as to whether the air traffic controller noticed that there was a helicopter that would have crossed paths with this aircraft.
The Journal.
A Plane Crash, Warning Signs and an Investigation
And then about 20 seconds before the collision happened, the air traffic controller got an alert on their own system saying that a collision was kind of imminent. They contacted the military aircraft. They said, do you have this CRJ-700 aircraft in your sight? The helicopter crew acknowledged it.
The Journal.
A Plane Crash, Warning Signs and an Investigation
They said that they did have the aircraft in sight and that they would take their own avoidance action. The helicopter then proceeded to climb in altitude, reaching kind of first 250 feet, then about 300, and then possibly even going a little bit further. And that's when it collided.
The Journal.
A Plane Crash, Warning Signs and an Investigation
So there really is a big question mark as to why the helicopter in its final moments rose to the altitude that the regional jet was coming down to and what led to that collision at that point. Maybe the helicopter crew didn't have great visibility. Maybe they didn't identify the right aircraft.
The Journal.
A Plane Crash, Warning Signs and an Investigation
They were flying towards the city, so there were lights in the background that may have disguised the aircraft. But A lot of the investigation, a lot of the questions are really narrowing into those final few seconds before the collision as to what that helicopter was doing kind of outside of its mandated, you know, flight level.
The Journal.
A Plane Crash, Warning Signs and an Investigation
The NTSB, they're the investigating authority that are looking into the crash. They've said that they'll release a preliminary report within 30 days. So we're waiting for that. Whether they'll take the full 30 days or we'll get something sooner, we're not quite sure. Obviously, there's a lot of pressure to get things out as quickly as possible. But the investigators are very cautious.
The Journal.
A Plane Crash, Warning Signs and an Investigation
Typically in an aviation investigation, they are very careful to kind of avoid political interference, you know, make sure that they really drill down to, you know, the factual details of what happened.
The Journal.
A Plane Crash, Warning Signs and an Investigation
In the United States, very. We haven't seen an air disaster kind of of this scale in the United States for 15 years. But the scale of the fatalities in this incident on Wednesday evening makes it the deadliest aviation disaster since November 2001.
The Journal.
A Plane Crash, Warning Signs and an Investigation
It's an unusual comment. Not necessarily even for the meaning behind, you know, the comment and what President Trump said. was trying to imply, but simply by virtue of the fact that a president was commenting on the possible cause or triggers behind an aviation accident. This is something where we need to be able to drill into the facts.
The Journal.
A Plane Crash, Warning Signs and an Investigation
You need to be able to really assess what happened without kind of a narrative being forced onto it.
The Journal.
A Plane Crash, Warning Signs and an Investigation
You know, one of the difficult parts about being an aviation reporter is being able to talk about these kind of safety issues without kind of encouraging or, you know, inspiring panic. That is a line to thread because we want to be able to draw attention to issues that are genuine safety issues and concerns. I think there are questions about how DC's airspace is managed.
The Journal.
A Plane Crash, Warning Signs and an Investigation
And I'm sure, I mean, they will be reviewed and they will be kind of interrogated. I suspect that some changes will be made. But the bottom line is that aviation safety is still at an incredibly high standard. What happened on Wednesday night was an absolute tragedy. And as we said, you know, it's a tragedy that just hasn't happened in the U.S. for at least 15 years.