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 experts who believes human error is the likeliest explanation behind the tragedy that claimed dozens of lives.
In audio of the tower at Reagan communicating with the helicopter crew, a controller can be heard asking if they have the airplane in visual range, telling the chopper to pass behind the jet. Moments later, the two smacked into one another, killing all 64 people on the plane, which was flying in from Wichita, Kansas, and the three service members aboard the Black Hawk. On Thursday, officials with the National Transportation Safety Board told reporters they were not yet certain of the tragedy’s root cause.
