Former RAF helicopter pilot assesses Washington DC plane crash
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- Опубліковано 6 лют 2025
- Paul Kennard, who was a RAF Chinook pilot for 23 years, assesses the Washington DC plane crash with Sky's Gareth Barlow.
Sixty-seven people were killed when an American Airlines jet and a military helicopter collided mid-air in the American capital.
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Wonderful. An interviewer who asked relevant questions and allowed the guest to answer. And a guest who was able to clearly explain in layman’s terms what his points were. I hadn’t the first clue about the problems of night flying in such an environment. Now I do.
The question he didn't ask though, is why would anyone in their right mind fly military training flights over a busy city and across the approach to a civilian airport. What kind of crazy thought that was a good idea?
Sensible comments and insights. No speculation.
Na those questions were to make look good. But backfired. What he said is night flying is difficult. So why near an airport. Dummies
Very rare for sky news
Landing operations were going off without a hitch like clockwork. Nothing there to be concerned about. Over here, though, we actually have converging aircraft at similar altitudes. Nothing to be concerned about there either, apparently. No need to inform jet of very possible traffic conflict. ATC doesn’t know it’s hard to see at night. ATC thinks it’s as easy at night to see and avoid. ATC doesn’t know Blackhawk pilots may not be proficient enough to hug the Eastern shoreline at night (Blackhawk was in middle of river violating civilian airspace). No alarm necessary. Proceed as usual. Perfect!
A useful and carefully measured perspective from somebody with experience, rather than someone who has sat in the passenger seat of a golf buggy or garbage truck.
Who's ya daddy?
Or a limousine, yacht or private jet as is common by the elitists in the media.
Landing operations were going off without a hitch like clockwork. Nothing there to be concerned about. Over here, though, we actually have converging aircraft at similar altitudes. Nothing to be concerned about there either, apparently. No need to inform jet of very possible traffic conflict. ATC doesn’t know it’s hard to see at night. ATC thinks it’s as easy at night to see and avoid. ATC doesn’t know Blackhawk pilots may not be proficient enough to hug the Eastern shoreline at night (Blackhawk was in middle of river violating civilian airspace). No alarm necessary. Proceed as usual. Perfect!
So good to see an informative and expert insight from a professional pilot, with a very good interviewer asking for relevant information and not trying to initiate conjecture or speculation. This is the sort of journalism that all broadcasters should be held to
Good interviewer and knowledgable guest
lol really? i am over 10 so got bored of the level of questioning very quickly. pretty sure the guest did too.
@@itwoznotme Bots are out in force today.
Well done to Sky for this sensible interview. Nothing like experience.
I flew a quite few times with Mr Kennard (he was a Flt Lieutenant/Sqn Leader at the time) and I believe his experience and skill shows in this interview, his ability to explain the situation and the challenges that the crews faced in that type of environment is 100% correct, and should be seen as being informative and useful for people who don’t have the experience of flying as a pilot or crewman.
I thought he came across as someone with TDS.
This guy’s delivery and knowledge is excellent.
Great interview, this man explained things well
😂😂😂
The issue seems to be that the helicopter broke its 200 ft height limit and hit the aircraft at 350 ft. That's like driving on the wrong side of the road.
A plane at 350 feet and a heli at 200ft will still give a lot of problems for plane, it will lose lift.
They were told to go behind plane, there is an intersection of flight paths, only thing they had to do is wait till plane flies through intersection and lands on rwy 33.
Visual separation still means good separation, 150ft is not good at all.
Flight radar was showing the helicopter was flying at 350 feet at the point of impact
Exactly
which broke the limit and led to the crash
AGL or MSL ? ?
@@ClaudeBawles Is the "limit" in AGL or MSL altitude?
@ no idea, all I know is that the 200ft limit was exceeded which to me seems a major
Informative man.
The whole point of the matter ie. If these are the complications involved in night flying. They shouldnt be near a airport.
Surely the helicopter would be saying, warning, warning, too close too close! Our cars warn us. This doesnt add up.
TCAS is disabled below 1000 ft
Disabled under 1000 foot
@jackmorris1068 ahh but what about visually seeing a HUGE aeroplane right there in front of the pilot? She should have seen it a long way off, not just driven straight into the plane! Something does not add up.
Helicopter pilot confirmed he had a visual on the jet with ATC who warned them, but it was the wrong jet he confirmed. Tragically pilot error.
Soz Maverick
So bro didn't listen to his TCAS?and what was the heli even doing in the flight path of a runway? No airport in the world allow this under normal operating conditions.
Pure assumption copied from media speculation. Nobody knows if the helicopter pilot was confirming the wrong plane or not.
Also, the ATC should have ordered a change of direction for the heli. This is routine when the ATC notices potential for danger.
So very tragic, rip, all involved.
As a pilot myself I think Paul hit the nail on the head. A constant bearing means a collision. At night it, where they were, it must have been impossible to diferentiate between the stationary lights of the town and the aircraft.
Theres a new camera angle that shows the helo on a level path and the plane descended in it.
@@JohnWick-stardawgit was landing.
@@JohnWick-stardawgthe flight path also showed that the plane was on a gentle curve towards the runway, and the helo took a definite turn across the path of the runway. I'm not a pilot, but it seems to me that the one thing another aircraft should NEVER do is fly across the final approach to a runway.
So very sad rest in peace
Only comment worth reading
If the viewing from the helicopter is this difficult why would the pilot ask for "visual seperation" and take control of the situation himself...
It seems extraordinary that any military helicopter is allowed to fly in such a lit up, reflective, congested airspace??
perfectly safe to fly in those conditions but the helicopter exceeded its 200 ft height limit in that area and crashed into the plane
@@ClaudeBawlesso not safe then...
@@MarkB-33 yes, if in this case the height limit had not been breached it is safe to fly in busy airspace
ATC said go behind the plane so why are they flying towards it?
they were looking at the wrong plane, there were another two stacked up behind it mate
Wow, that was one of the most informative bits of news coverage I have seen for a long time. So rare unfortunately.
Helicopter pilot confirmed eyes on traffic. At low altitude in a built up area, there would be so much visual contamination. My thoughts are the controller should have prevented the helicopter crossing an active runway with traffic on finals. But hey, everybody is a smarty pants with hindsight.
Even then, they surely should have been following both aircraft on the transponder. Sometimes I think the military are given priority right of way because it’s assumed they know what they’re doing I guess.
There was not a controller. They got fired. There was a staffing crisis.
There was one controller when there should be at least 2/3.
But Trump does not want to pay people to keep people safe.... Because he is the "common sense" president.
It was the jet behind that the helicopter pilot allegedly saw and thought that was the one that ATC was warning them about. It’s tragic but it was pilot error and not the ATC whatever Trump says
The Tower controller does not provide a radar service. The helo was likely on a visual procedure, and the controller asking to confirm traffic in sight is entirely normal. As such, collision avoidance responsibility for the helo lay with the helo pilot. If the CRJ was on a radar service, then the controller would have been calling traffic to it, however with the phrase ‘circling approach’ being used, I think they may also have been on a visual procedure, rather than a straight in ILS approach for example.
@@robmilligan3650 yes makes sense. It still seems utterly bizarre that a military helicopter was effectively flying only VFR at night time. And even the flight planning, why on Earth would they choose a route that requires cutting across the final leg of a commercial airport? A couple of miles further out would’ve provided some comfort at least.
Very valuable insight to counter the hysteria.
One point of confusion - a Black Hawk, like most modern military Helicopters, can detect allied/enemy aircraft in its vicinity.
How did it miss such a huge plane?
Surely, there would be some system alert backing up the pilots.
Female pilot. 500 flight hours. They won't reveal her identity lol.
wrong
They just released her name on US TV but most did not reveal her as the pilot. Though the other two have previously been identified as co pilots. US TV thinks we are stupid. She was the pilot. And it is increasingly clear the Heli was in the wrong. If it was a male pilot, he would have been identified as the pilot at the get go. I am not saying that sexual identity is the reason fir the error. But by not simply releasing the name with the rest of the crew, the miliary and the media are not being professional and stirring things up unnecessarily. I miss the days when the news were facts
They needed time to erase her or his profile and all social media accounts, why would that be important
Doesn't really matter whether the pilot saw the plane or was looking at the wrong plane, if the helicopter was below 200 ft like it was supposed to be it would have passed safely underneath.
Except it wasn’t flying at the mandated 200 feet, it was flying at 350+ feet
So basically it was the helicopter pilot who did the collision.
I know zippo about flying a plane or helicopter so I'll leave judgement to those who can fly either or both
It’s a shame many others don’t have this mindset lol
but this is the internet! People with little to no knowledge are supposed to make sweeping statements as if they are experts.
@@hexrag5901 Exactly like the internet knew how to deal with LA fires with 70mph guests better than firefighters 🤣
I will trust sly news for a professional view of the subject…………………………….. 😂
Wow, that's about the best comment today ...I like your style.
very helpful explanation from the pilot
Jan 20th: FAA Director was fired.
Jan 21st: Air traffic controller hiring frozen.
Jan 22nd: Aviation safety advisory committee disbanded.
Jan 28th: Buyout/retirement demand sent to existing employees.
Jan 29th: First American midair collision in 16 years.
The dems would stage anything to get power back 😉
False.
False.
False.
False.
False.
The FAA had been understaffed by Bidens administration since 2021.
A military helicopter did it!
Yea like that caused it dumb dumb
Nothing to do with the FAA being understaffed since Bidens administration?
Nice try BidenBots!
Jan 20th: FAA Director was fired.
Jan 21st: Air traffic controller hiring frozen.
Jan 22nd: Aviation safety advisory committee disbanded.
Jan 28th: Buyout/retirement demand sent to existing employees.
Jan 29th: First American midair collision in 16 years.
Jan 30th: Trump blames crash on DEI
How does any of that produce this crash? Your math isnt mathing bruv
Wow, that’s some quick cause and effect!
@@00marcf Trumps military produced the collision
@@00marcf the math that's it's DEI isn't mathing bruv either
Trump is 100% right.
This is all negligence! They found the pilot was a women rabecca from Durham and was at fault pilot error crashing! She wasn’t experienced, and people want to see her “qualifications”!
Was she a woman or a trans woman
The plane has got its landing lights on and the lights are so bright and one has to be blind not to be able to see the plane with all its lights on. The crew should also know they are approaching the route in which planes are using to land on the airport. So there is no excuse for the accident . . . May God be merciful for the poor souls which have vanished in this most terrible accident.
Accident ?
Yeah right . . . .
It seemed like the helicopter went in a straight line and hit it on perpose . The plane was shining like a massive spot light .
Apparently the CJR was asked to change from runway 1 to 33, this is an unusual request, as in it's not a request made that often. If the CRJ had stayed on runway 1, no accident.
@@andyking6051Here we go! The conspiracy idiots have entered the conversation!
@CoachouseFilms Aye , we are so stupid , there's never been any conspiracy anywhere has there , there's never been shady goings on in America has there ? Wooohoooo !
Awful lot of talk and no mention of air traffic control
Why would there be? Air traffic control gave all the correct calls and the helicopter had visual so it was the helicopter's responsibility. Air traffic control even warned them less than a minute before that they were close and if they still had visual
yeah, cause air traffic control wasn't flying the helicopter...
Because the main cause was the blackhawk failing to stay in position not ATC
It wasn’t their fault, they warned the pilots and the Helicopter confirmed visual with ATC for the next plane coming in instead of the one almost on top.
Because it has likely f**k all to do with ATC
Does this occur at Heathrow or Gatwick in the UK? I am referring to military helicopters operating at altitudes between 200 and 400 feet, crossing perpendicular to the established approach path of arriving aircraft. Given the critical nature of controlled airspace around major international airports, there should be a clearly defined minimum altitude for overflying aircraft, ensuring all inbound traffic can pass safely below within a designated perimeter of several miles. This should never be allowed to happen while aircraft are on approach.
AFAIK helicopters generally would use the same rules as aircraft, but in this case I’m not sure what they were doing. Perhaps military can use different flight rules?
Yes,it seems most strange that a military helicopter was flying so low at a busy civilian airport at night.
One issue to remember in THIS particular location is DC (restricted airspace) is on the opposite bank from the airport... so helicopter traffic is limited in the available HORIZONTAL separation (have to fly over the water when transiting NS) while at the same time aircraft on approach to 33 have to be also relatively (descending through 400ft AGL) while over the river.... IF DC wasn't so near Helios could fly further from the end of the runway so have a consistently greater VERTICAL separation from aircraft on approach to land (most airports have a 'circuit height' of 1,000ft
I remember reading these communications and flight paths between military and civilian aircraft are handled differently in the UK than in the US. How, I don’t know
@@narr482 As I understand (i am no expert). In the UK and Europe the control tower always handles visual separation at night, in the US the controller can hand those responsibilities to the pilot.
Great reporting!👍😊
In a chopper all pessengers on such a flight are on alert to look out for power lines, other aircraft... I just don't get how the entire crew did not alert the pilot of the row of incoming flights - as maybe the pilot was looking at the wrong plane. Great interview and explanation. (I hope rules are changed and that no choppers should be flying in those such landing zones.) Hearts go out to all the families.
military aircraft should NOT be anywhere near an airport. America is huge they have plenty of air space to train in.
absolutely awesome explanation by the pilot.... really enjoyed watching this
Still begs the question; why are military helicoptors allowed to be flying in an airport take-off and landing zone at all? It should be a restricted fly space.
This should even more pressingly be so, given everything this experienced pilot has just said.
Surly this accident should never of happened aspecially near an airport.. unbelievable 😢
Surely, surely it isn’t anything to do with lack of vision but navigation. Again, surely the pilot should know their position in relation to an aircraft’s flight path towards a busy airport. I would have thought that it would be a no no to be anywhere near that flight path.
Don't call me Shirley
Nope, the helicopter flight path was to follow the river. So was on the correct path but probably wrong altitude.
I start to question whether the helicopter pilot asked for altitude indications to actually meet and hit the airliner with the purpose to enter a suicidal mission because there is no way he didn't see that plane lights that we all see in the video and nothing else makes sense anymore..
Excellent interview.
This never would have happened if Trump was president. ;)
He was when it happened , And without a FAA director .
😂😂
Trump wasn’t a pilot of that helicopter.
Trump Derangement Syndrome ❤
Ukraine is winning….
Who is the pilot??
Excellent assessment…
A Blind man could have seen this Plane, the helicopter was at the wrong level
If Trump knew as much about statesmanship as this guy knows about flying a helicopter - we would be living in a different world.
Great insight.
Control should have never allowed them to be so close together confirmed visual or not, with that said I still feel for the controller, hard job to do, procedures should have been in place to ensure seperation so as not to rely solely on the judgement of any single party.
Aks why he fly directly into the flight path.
its called a mistake. look at human history, they happen a lot lol.
I remember seeing this guy on The Office! So good
My theory on this is Helicopter pilot might have been wearing night vision goggles.
I think he forgot his glasses too
What a well informed guest. Spectacular knowledge
Well said. Understandable.
Great interview Foo x
What the crew were looking at???? This is crazy the airplane was in front of them!
Thats correct alot of visibility
Obviously it was stolen by Afghani Taliban after Brandon left them $ billions of hardware a few years back. The chopper actually flew at 2 planes prior to hitting the third but as usual we don't get the whole picture.
Helicopter crashes into a plane. Trains derailed and crashing. Cargo ship crashing into a bridge. Something is clearly not right.
Human error, that's always going to happen
Yeah. People keep crashing.
Omg and car crashes into car, peoples aura must be off!
And I've tripped over while walking down the street.
@@DA-md6ki and the cargo ship thing- well perhaps the ships are too big and too many now, we need to all buy less stuff all the time (me included) rather than any other suspicious cause.
plane seems to have landing lights ON... from the video footage it appears plane was clearly visible with naked eye.
From a fixed point on the ground yes. He explains exactly how it could have been missed on the interview.
Damn too many lights everywhere. .... I flew from regan airport to my destination buffalo new york couple of years ago .. i never knew about this congested airport. I am not flying in and out from regan airport anymore.
a lot has been said about lighting conditions as if the beaconing were insufficient. Flashing lights are very well thought and I imagine that a military craft should have had some special features letting the pilots have situation awareness
My papa :grandpa as an RAF instructor , he passed at 94 😢
What were the names of the soldiers who died he names and profiles.
Google it they have been published for
What a BS…. They are TRAINED to operate day and night. They didn’t see an airplane with all their lights on. Yeah right…
There were I think 5 civil aircradt lining up to land - which one was the helicopter pilot looking at ? The audio confirms that the helicopter pilot had an aircraft in sight and air traffic assumed it was the correct one , but there's every reason to expect he/she was looking at the wrong one. Otherwise there'd be no collision.
Doesn't ATC have radar data showing altitude and speed of all the aircraft in there area of responsibility. ?
US military helicopters don’t have a brilliant record, they’ve had 18 non-combat fatalities in the last 2 years.
This RAF pilot knows what he is talking about. That Blackhawk pilot didn't know what he/she was doing.
Very well spoken
A professional and informative interview that.
Also an intelligent guest in Paul Kennard who spoke with insightful knowledge on this awful disaster.
Great questions, and superb answers, certainly changed my ignorant perception.
This kind of information would stop most speculation, if put out there immediately from the right channels.
Excellent informative Analysis!✔️✔️✔️👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽🙏🙏🙏to All.
so why do we have helicopters flying around right next to an airport at night!
More of these types of guests please!!!
An hypothesis based on the explanation given by this airman:
To the pilot of the helicopter the planes lights would appear to be stationary lights against a backdrop of lights from the airport itself, they are also unable to gauge their distance to the lights at night. From what I gathered the pilot did see a plane but it was the plane behind the one in the accident, this plane was not on a collision course and therefore it's lights would appear to be moving relative to the helicopter and thus much easier to distinguish from stationary lights in the airport. I would imagine precise collision courses are uncommon thus I doubt the pilot had much experience dealing with this situation especially at night. The pilot believed there was space based on his sighting of the second plane and continued on their path.
Has anyone at Sky asked Rod Stewart for his opinion?
😂😂😂
😂😂😂😂
1:56 "The key for me is: what were the crew actually looking at?"... I know what I've been looking at and it's a wig. And if I'm wrong, I'm very jealous!
Foo is a legend
It's an eye-opening case study for the UK 🇬🇧 - especially in London.
Congested airspace over urban residential area at Heathrow.
In addition, the UK also faces the shortage of air traffic controllers !!
And, now we are heading towards the third runway!!
I still don’t understand, how the helicopter didn’t see this plane, it wasn’t exactly small.
And the Goggles are a distraction.😂😂😂 This man is full of BS and lies. It was not an accident.
@@zeroounce8874 Ridiculous statement.
Helicopter pilot sat on the right, possibly looking right at what he thought was the a/c he was being warned about. The passenger jet arriving from the left may not have been something that was even being considered but nobody knows until the investigation. For the fat fraudster to be blaming people is ridiculous but shows the world exactly who he is and how he views people as disposable.
This is the problem with DEI
takeaway - there shouldn't have been a helicopter allowed in the first place. after that it was clearly the fault of the helicopter pilot
Given the circumstances, night time, busy airport and city lights all around the helo should never have been given clearance to take off with a passenger jet having an intersecting flight path. As Paul Kennard quite rightly points out perception of the potential for collision is very different in the air than on the ground and with all the visual clutter of city lights all around it is quite possible the pilot just didn't realise how close to a collision they were until it was too late.
When helicopter confirmed he saw the airplane,,,,,how does anybody know they were looking at same air plane.?
i know what happened. they were both flying at the same height and arrived at the same place at the same time therefore they crashed.
Well if that didn’t happen there would be no crash. Is more of why it happend
Exactly
It was not an accident…unless helicopter pilots were completely blind…happens I guess 😂😂
instead of "he said whole lot of nothing" say "i don't understand english, and i am hard of hearing"
This is obviously air traffic controls fault... baffles me why they'd be flying there in the first place
Quantum positioning + AI for every aircraft is the solution. Each aircraft is able to communicate with others on positions... Great for VTOL too.
If appears that he is saying the crucial factor was air traffic control.
Blackhawk? Can't say that.
Night vision helmets!!!!!!
Just look out the windows of the helicopter and see the brightest light show ever-it’s called an airport and avoid a large object in the sky also with bright lights. Turn the helicopter away from that light….. not into it🤦
So this is incredibly difficult. However, the protocol seems to be that the control tower does not control the military flights they just warn them of close objects and the military is then expected to fly by vision?
So why do it routinely if it's so dangerous?
Throughout the ATC, Helo pilot, and AA pilot conversation, no one asks if the AA plane is approaching or departing. I think the Helo pilot thought the ATC was informing him of the departing flight in that video. ATC asks TWICE and TWICE Helo pilot says Yeah I see him. They are all looking at the departing flight (to the right) and then they are right on top of the AA plane not seeing it out their cockpit to the left. They thought they hit that gap in between approaching and departing flights.
ATC also offered AA RW33 at the last minute because it's closer to terminals and such.
There’s a recording of ATC telling the helicopter that there’s an inbound flight landing on runway 33 they even informed the helicopter that the airliner was at 1,200 ft at the time. So I’m not sure why they’d think it was the one preparing for take off.
not quite, the first ATC call to PAT was informing him that the CRJ was passing south of the bridge. Therefore why would the pilot think it was a departing aircraft.
Bless too all. Sadly. Xxxc
Hello, I have severe mental problems and even with training I couldn't be an air traffic controller, what Trump said about diversity quotas didn't offend me because I know my limitations, people should be 100% competent to be air traffic controllers
And what about people who become president?
Wonder if the crew of the helicopter thought that the plane taking off (away to the right) was the plane that they had to look out for that was landing....
RIP to everyone who died but Who were the passengers were they research team who cured cancer or something?
Exactly. It wasn’t an accident.
We know nearly all car crashes are deliberate so yes it's very unlikely this crash was an accident.
Here comes the tin foil hat brigade ! !
@ I got aluminium foil will that work too u think?
said so much but so little whos got the story?
heli pilot didn't see plane, and crashed into plane.
the video is explaining why the heli pilot didn't see the plane.
He spoke like politician…. Saying nothing at all.
He spoke like politician…. Saying nothing at all.
He said at night it’s VERY DIFFICULT to see. If they had difficulty to see they wouldn’t be pilots of military helicopters.
Why fly close to an airport anyway?