DC plane crash: Mapping flight paths that put Wichita jet, Black Hawk on collision course

At least 67 people are presumed dead after an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided with a regional passenger jet attempting to land at Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday night. After a fiery impact, both aircraft plunged into the dark and frigid Potomac River.

Flight path from Wichita's Eisenhower National Airport to DC

This American Airlines route between Wichita and the nation's capital has been active for just more than a year . The first flight in January 2024 was celebrated by the city, and members of the Kansas congressional delegation rode on that inaugural flight.

The plane had departed from Wichita's Eisenhower National Airport, or ICT, with service to Washington's Reagan National Airport, or DCA.

American Airlines provides phone numbers for family members

American Airlines wants people who believe they may have loved ones on board Flight 5342 to call toll-free at 800-679-8215. "Those calling from outside the U.S. can visit news.aa.com for additional phone numbers," the airline said in a statement. "Family members in Canada, Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands can call 800-679-8215 directly."

The aircraft collided over the Potomac River near DCA

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At 8:48 p.m. , the aircraft control tower sounded an alarm to alert responders to the crash.

D.C. airspace is heavily restricted

Those who fly in and out of the airport – located a scant three miles from the White House and two miles from the Pentagon – say it’s a complicated airspace to navigate. The Federal Aviation Administration usually requires aircraft to fly above the Potomac River, which shrinks air traffic volume to a narrow corridor . Aircraft must maintain specified altitudes to reduce noise levels in residential and tourist areas, including the National Mall.

Squeezing into Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is a choreographed dance for experienced pilots to navigate a smaller-than-standard and complex runway configuration. Add on top of that the prohibited airspace around the White House and Capitol complex known as P-56 and it requires special training and focus, said University of North Dakota Aviation Professor Jim Higgins, who flew into the airport as a commercial pilot.

“As someone who’s flown that approach, your focus and attention is almost entirely on the landing zone, completing the landing, rolling out and bringing the aircraft to a stop,” Higgins said. “You are not expecting a piece of traffic or helicopter or plane so close to you and so close to the ground.”

Air Traffic Control was in contact with jet, attempted to contact helicopter

Audio recordings from air traffic controllers captured dramatic communications before and after the collision.

LiveATC.net, a respected source for in-flight recording, recorded the moments before and after the crash, according to reporting from Reuters . The audio details communications between air traffic controllers and other aircraft, as well as the the final communication attempt with the three Army crew members in the helicopter – call sign PAT25 – before the collision with the jet .

Higgins, the aviation professor, said one plausible theory has emerged that air traffic controls instructed the UH-60 Black Hawk to maintain separation from the regional jet and those pilots identified the incorrect aircraft.

Higgins said pilot proficiency of the regional air carrier or military would be deeply examined along with all the communications and actions by the National Transportation Safety Board. The NTSB will also examine whether the helicopter was communicating with traffic controllers on a different radio frequency that the commercial pilots.

The Bombardier regional jet was equipped with a traffic alert and collision avoidance system aimed at alerting pilots of a hazard, but so close to the airport and ground, Higgins said the system often “declutters” the clusters of planes on the radar system and goes into “inhibit mode” which blocks the alerts in certain landing phases.

“Obviously something went catastrophically wrong,” Higgins said.

The helicopter may not have been equipped with ADS-B

ADS-B: Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast is a primary system that automatically transmits an aircraft’s position, using GPS-based latitude and longitude.

Mode S: Mode Select is a secondary surveillance and communication system, an aircraft transponder that sends data to air traffic controllers and other aircraft.

MLAT: Known as multilateration, this system applies mathematical calculations to Mode S signals to triangulate an aircraft's position.

According to Dan Streufert, founder and president of flight tracking network ADSBexchange, the passenger jet was broadcasting ADS-B data, which details an aircraft's position, including GPS-based latitude and longitude. However, the helicopter was not broadcasting ADS-B and was only broadcasting Mode S, a secondary surveillance and communication system .

ADSBexchange was able to triangulate the flight path of the helicopter using multilateration (MLAT). A FlightRadar24 video describes MLAT as a flight tracking technique that determines aircraft position by measuring the time difference of arrival (TDOA) of signals sent from the aircraft to multiple ground stations.Strufert says that because MLAT is a function of the receiver network it was possible to triangulate an approximate flight path even without ADS-B data. While FlightRadar24's network did not have enough nearby receivers, the ADSBexchange network had at least 4-6 in the area. The resulting flight path for the helicopter appears a bit jagged due to a lack of precision.

Streufert says that it appears that the Black Hawk may not have been equipped with ADS-B at all — however it did have a transponder, and would have been visible on air traffic control radar in either case. Without ADS-B broadcasting, the helicopter would not have been "invisible", but "less visible" to the jet.

The jet would have been equipped with Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS), which, at a higher altitude would have likely prevented this collision. Streufert adds that "TCAS would have issued a traffic advisory under most circumstances, even without ADS-B. However, TCAS is inhibited at low altitudes around airports to avoid nuisance/false alarms due to aircraft taxiing, etc."Why would the helicopter not have had ADS-B? Streufert says that security and cost issues are often cited, though he thinks integration with the civilian air traffic system would argue in favor of installing the equipment.

"While civilian aircraft are required to be equipped in most US airspace, the FAA does not have the ability to mandate this for military aircraft. The military has been slow to deploy ADS-B, especially on its smaller aircraft", said Streufert.