How the Washington DC plane crash unfolded

An American Airlines passenger jet with 64 people onboard was coming in to land at Reagan National airport when it collided with a military helicopter. Here is a video timeline of the incident


The Guardian on YouTube:

#dcplanecrash #washingtonplanecrash #usa #planecrash #helicoptercrash #planehelicoptercrash

[Yjn]

The plane was doing what it routinely does, takeoff from one airport and land on another. The helicopter was not supposed to be there.

[DumbledoreMcCracken]

The helicopter hit the plane. The helicopter was 100% at fault. USG owes the victims' families a huge settlement.

[AGTC]

It's quite clear to me after seeing the footage that the crew of the Black Hawk are 100% negligent & obviously no one onboard was paying any attention in such a crowded airspace . It was avoidable if someone had open their eyes & put their brain into gear.

[fnfcgdcv]

Why was the helicopter flying at the flight path of a busy runway? At that altitude? They have a lot of explaining to do.

[everythingisfine-bd]

Helos are forbidden to fly higher than 200ft in that area. This dude was a 350ft. Brainfart or deliberate action?

[keyboarddancers]

The chopper's flight path was either the result of vicious deliberation or staggering incompetence. The fact that such deliberation or incompetence could be expressed in such a blatant and fatal manner in what is arguably the most sensitive airspace on the planet is cause for grave concern (understatement).

[nareshkargathra]

The zig-zag route of the helicopter is suspicious.

[Cheesy-choco-mash]

How terrifying, my prayers go out to all those poor victims and their families R.I.P 😢😞🙏❤

[paulbowman]

It unfolded alright ! How that helicopter didn't see that big ball of light in front of it is inexcusable and it's as simple as that ! It actually looks like the copper pilot aimed for the plane, ?

[theempath]

That helicopter was erratic in is flight pattern. The plane was adhering to its pattern. The plane was in contact with the control tower, so who was the helicopter in contact with. The Army have radar and watch all planes to make sure none go in their jurisdiction. So was that helicopter legal?

[swavekbu]

The plane was banking toward the runway, pilot looking at the runway, co-pilot reading off altitudes off his/her instrumentation. They weren't looking to see if a chopper was on the opposite side of the bank and would have had no reason to. The chopper was likely looking at another plane, both focused on it while they flew right into the path of the plane. My theory is that the jet is 100% innocent, the chopper (and possibly ATC) are to blame. Totally avoidable, and totally predictable. Do you see the plane? What F*CKING plane. You know, the one in front of me. It's 2025 and we're not more specific than that? Read off the coordinates, be PRECISE in identifying the plane that should be sighted. NTSB will come out with recommendations that should have been already known. The only thing we will "learn" from this crash is how dumb human beings are and wait for tragedy to strike instead of preventing the obvious.

[MrColmdonnelly]

Before the NTSB even comes close to finishing their report, Trump is already laying the blame on "DEI policies" in aviation being responsible for poor quality staff. The reality? The military helicopter was negligently flying in controlled airspace around the known and published approach plate for that runway. This is an issue of poor military training.

[ullrichjanullrich]

Can you see the plane is not the best question when there are two planes in sight.

[pixies]

im impressed it took so long for news companies to finally get the audio that smaller youtubers were posting hours before

[ILLRICARDO]

It felt like the military helicopter purposely flew into the plane.

[Maximus_scootz]

Ik I’m not a plane guy but ain’t a collision really rare in aviation?

[kimsim]

Helicopter pilot said visual separation more than 1x

[floppathegod]

Now that's what I call the Ariel collision

[tclolz]

Guardian caption says "there was no response" to the visual separation request, but the controllers response was at 1:26 "viz sep apprv". Very indistinct on this recording, but the audio is cleaner on other channels.
Not saying that changes anything, just inaccurate I think.

[itzTobi]

All that sky space and you still collide with another aircraft???
🤔 🐟