The fatal midair collision on Wednesday evening between an Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines passenger jet moments away from landing at Washington, D.C.’s Reagan National Airport was a shocking and extremely rare occurrence, according to one expert who believes human error is the likeliest explanation behind the tragedy that claimed dozens of lives.
Among the additional factors that could have contributed to Wednesday’s collision, Greenspun pointed to a potential misunderstanding between air traffic controllers and the Black Hawk pilots, who were instructed to keep sight of the American Airlines CRJ, one of several in the area at the time, and maintain visual separation.
The controllers at such a busy airport “are about as good as you can get,” according to Greenspun, who said the pilots at the controls of an airliner are also top tier, and that Army Black Hawk pilots “are well above average.”.
At the beginning, Cox explained, mechanical error accounted for 80 percent to 90 percent of airplane crashes, whereas 80 percent to 90 percent of accidents today are caused by human error.
What might've caused the D.C. plane crash that killed 67 people ‘Even the most skilled pilots are going to make human errors, because they’re human,’ former Navy fighter pilot Matt Cox told The Independent.
