Pilots have long worried about DC's complex airspace contributing to a catastrophe [View all]

https://apnews.com/article/american-airlines-5342-blackhawk-reagan-national-airport-81a43f2ba5cc59cbe9273fa593f1e9cf

Pilots have long worried about DC’s complex airspace contributing to a catastrophe
By RYAN J. FOLEY, JIM MUSTIAN and MICHAEL BIESECKER
Updated 7:37 PM CST, January 30, 2025

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Retired U.S. Army National Guard pilot Darrell Feller said the deadly collision 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.

An air traffic controller advised him to be on the lookout for a jetliner landing on Runway 3-3, an approach that requires planes to fly directly over the route used by military and law enforcement helicopters transiting the nation’s capital.

Feller was unable to pick out the oncoming jetliner against the lights of the city and cars on a nearby bridge. He immediately descended, skimming just 50 feet over the water to ensure the descending jetliner would pass over him.

“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.”

Feller’s experience was eerily similar to what experts said may have happened with the crew of the Army helicopter Wednesday shortly before 9 p.m. as they flew south along the Potomac and collided with an American Airlines Flight 5342 landing at Runway 3-3.

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