I am astounded that something as stupid as allowing low level military helicopter traffic to cross an active final approach was going on here, and at night. That was just an accident waiting to happen. Looking at the approach and helicopter charts, I don’t see any good reason for the helicopter traffic to not be diverted around the approach area, it’s not like it’s a problem for military helicopters to fly over Bolling or I295. What a senseless tragedy. Who authorized this ridiculous practice?
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The published Helo routes are designed to minimize noise as much as practical. Lots of 24/7 helo operations. There were two separate problems: the helo deviated from the charted route and was well above the maximum allowable altitude.
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Too much clutter in this thread too.
Crucial is what altitude the airliner was at relative to the 200 foot maximum of helicopter operations along the river.
‘ando140’ calculates expected altitude from basics, thankyou.
One suggestion has been that the helicopter mistook another airliner for the accident one, in determining where to pass behind.
Yes, but only the final track. Seconds before the CRJ turned left to a heading of 330, it was flying more or less towards the Blackhawk for a much longer time. Long enough for the Blackhawk to see the landing lights. I think they forgot they were 200 feet higher. The routine is to fly low enough across the landing approach that traffic avoidance is no concern. Except this time. My theory, anyway.
Beware supposed experts on aviation who media like to grab onto, rarely they think things through.
I commend USA Today newspaper for a sensible article.
The heli was too high. Here’s there altitude from their data feed.
2025-01-30T01:43:57.761107000Z,ae313d,400,400,DF00
2025-01-30T01:44:01.730572000Z,ae313d,400,400,DF00
2025-01-30T01:44:01.866652000Z,ae313d,400,400,DF00
2025-01-30T01:44:03.118195000Z,ae313d,DF11
2025-01-30T01:44:05.567617000Z,ae313d,DF11
2025-01-30T01:44:05.675271000Z,ae313d,400,400,DF04
2025-01-30T01:44:08.120259000Z,ae313d,DF11
2025-01-30T01:44:10.619900000Z,ae313d,400,400,DF00
2025-01-30T01:44:11.153976000Z,ae313d,400,400,DF00
2025-01-30T01:44:11.872590000Z,ae313d,400,400,DF00
2025-01-30T01:44:22.554651000Z,ae313d,DF11
‘rick.freeman100’:
Are you saying te helicopter was at 400 feet AGL?
Some people calculate the airliner would be closer to 200 ft ASL at the time.
Other sources say the helicopter was supposed to be at 200 ft or below, supposed to descend to that from higher before it got near the runways,
That’s what the data says. 400 ft. I believe it’s MSL, but over the river there’s little difference.