Collision between helicopter and plane kills 67

A midair collision between an Army helicopter and an American Airlines flight from Kansas killed all 67 people aboard the two aircraft, officials said Thursday, as they scrutinized the actions of the military pilot after the country’s worst aviation disaster in a generation.

At least 28 bodies were pulled from the icy waters of the Potomac River after the helicopter apparently flew into the path of the jet late Wednesday while it was landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport, just across the river from Washington, officials said. The plane carried 60 passengers and four crew. Three soldiers were aboard the helicopter.

“Your drive to the airport is riskier than your flight from the airport,” said Michael McCormick, an assistant professor and program coordinator for air traffic management at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. “Aviation remains, in spite of what happened yesterday night, the safest mode of transportation in the United States.”

Hassan Shahidi, president and CEO of Flight Safety Foundation, also stressed how rare this kind of deadly accident is.

“This should have never happened. It is absolutely preventable,” Shahidi said, adding that he and others will continue to follow the NTSB’s investigation into the exact cause of the collision to help ensure that it never happens again.

Part of that might come down to modernization and additional resources, he said.

“We have highly trained air traffic controllers all over the country. We have highly trained pilots all over the country. They’re doing their jobs well,” he said. “But we also need to understand what else is needed — in terms of technology, in terms of modernization of the air traffic control system, in terms of additional personnel and training support.”

President Donald Trump called the deadly collision a “a tragedy of terrible proportions” and said there were no survivors as he addressed reporters in the White House briefing room Thursday morning.

“This was a dark and excruciating night in our nation’s capital and in our nation’s history and a tragedy of terrible proportions as one nation, we grieve for every precious soul that has been taken from us so suddenly,” Trump said.