January 30, 2025
5 I will read the smallest
How an airplane accident like a DC crash has been investigated
In accidents that collide with a commercial airplane that collide with Potomac yesterday, the Air Safety Investigator needs a deep excavation.
The emergency response unit inspects the debris of the Potomac River plane near the Ronal Dragan Washington Airport.
Andrew HARNIK/Getty Images
The video camera at the Kennedy Center, Washington DC, is shooting a Kiaros Kroy image of the night landscape of the country’s capital. The above bank airplane is approaching. It moves toward the camera, then offers uneven visibility. In the distance, the bright blip in the sky slowly moves forward. A much smaller pinpoint of bright light from behind at a faster pace. Within a few seconds, smaller aircraft overtake larger aircraft, and vivid flash illuminates the night sky on hundreds of feet on the Potomac River.
Last night’s Cichorsky UH-60 Black Hawk Helicopter and the American E-Ground 5342 brought the death of 64 passengers and crew members of the commercial plane, and three U.S. military service members in helicopters. I’m afraid. Naturally, the case surprised both experts and flight. Traveling to US AirSpace was a very safe experience over many years. The last domestic accident that brought a major death dating back to 2009, including commercial passenger aircraft.
The Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is the task for pilots that must compete with both traffic congestion and restricted airspace near the region, such as White House and Pentagon. Potomax is a place for one of the previous major accidents. In 1982, Florida’s flight collided with a bridge while taking off in a storm, and dropped into a frozen river, killing 74 out of 79 and four drivers on the ship. In recent years, a near -miss in Reagan National has occurred on the ground, and the flight route has crossed on a runway in several cases recorded by the Federal Aviation Bureau.
About the support of science journalism
If you are enjoying this article, consider supporting journalism that has won. Subscription. By purchasing a subscription, it will help you secure the future of a story that has an impactful story that forms our world today.
How does Aeronautics Safety Officers proceed with such major accidents? Scientific American Publish the question in Kristy Kiernan, an associate director of BoEing Center for Aviation and Aerospace Safety of Embrew-Riddle Aeronautical University.
(The edited transcript in the interview continues.)
Commercial Airlines accidents are rare, and many people are wondering what happened in the case of yesterday.
This has a very clearly defined process. The NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) has a “GO team” that starts immediately, and pays attention to evidence that caution is likely to rot when rescue and recovery operation is completed. Recovery of wreckage. It is very important to collect evidence that is easy to rot. Obviously, if the scenes are secured and it is possible to work safely, the protection of people who are rescue and recovering is also an important factor because there are many danger at the accident site.
ISO What will come after that?
Obviously, the so -called black box, voice recorder and data recorder are very important for recovery. They exist in local jets. I don’t know what kind of recording device is in the UH-60 (helicopter). But in general, black boxes are a big focus. Next, there are a variety of groups that have been convened, such as operation, maintenance, air traffic control, and weather, and all groups, including human factors, are investigating specific areas.
Therefore, for example, air traffic control secures all air traffic control radar and all communication tapes. Similarly, there is a collection of evidence related to the operation of both the Army and the PSA Airlines (American Aviation Companies involved in crashes) and those involved in the operation of aircraft, including training records. If things are not so, efforts in a specific field are proportional to the role played by a specific fact. As a result, more and more resources are expanded towards the area where the survey is progressing. Everything that takes time. We have a fast news cycle, and ordinary people need to get information as soon as possible, but frankly, rather than speculation or succumbing to opinions that there is no place of aviation at all, those who wait for good information. Is good.
Can you explain what you learned in pursuit of past surveys?
I think we have a layer of safety that exists. Therefore, for example, there are steps in where the airplane is in the sky and how altitude is. After that, there is technology. There is a collision avoidance system. There is an ADS-B and an automatic dependency monitoring broadcast. This is another tool used to help recognize the situation where other aircraft is in the airspace. We have a highly trained air transport controller, but in many examples in the past, we have worked hard to avoid collisions in the air. After that, there is an experienced pilot on a local jet flight deck, and there are experienced carriers who have been highly trained with the Army helicopter.
But isn’t that always enough?
Therefore, there are usually all these layers. However, it is necessary to recognize many systems to ask. Washington (DC) has that area. This is high density and large amounts, and the operation pace is high. And we have a safe margin, but when driving on a smooth and snowy road in the dark, you can maintain safe operation -Your risk profile is beautiful. It is different from Sunday afternoon. Therefore, our safety margins have a thinner area, and they are areas we really have to be alert.
I would be relieved if people could see all activities that would keep the airspace safer. But the last thing I say is that we should be comfortable where we are now. We should always be uncomfortable as an aviation safety expert. For those who are traveling, I think they can be comfortable for all of these activities they are happening every day. However, if there is 40,000 businesses in the US airspace every day, even one accident is too many.
Aviation accident with massive death is rare. Does it make it more difficult to investigate them in several ways?
I don’t know that it is more difficult to investigate (such an accident). There are many modeling that is being carried out in the industry to understand the various things in the accident, so it is definitely more difficult to predict (they). There is no smoking gun. It is not just one causal factor. Even if you find one thing, there is a reason for one reason, and the reason is more complicated. And if you just identify one thing, you have not really solved anything. You have to go deeper and see why behind it. These accidents are very rare. Therefore, it is very unlikely that the same thing will be repeated, especially after taking action. But we cannot stop there. We want to use each of them as an opportunity to find out all factors that have entered there. Therefore, we can not only be responded (and), but also identify the risks and danger we are looking forward to.
