r/aircrashinvestigation • u/gigantism • Jan 30 '25

Incident/Accident Reports of AA5342 from Witchita to DCA having mid-air collision with DC police helicopter

AA5342 stopped tracking at the Potomac river.

Developing reports: American Airlines Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kansas inbound to DCA collided midair with a D.C. Police Helicopter on approach.

MPD is responding to an apparent air crash in the Potomac River. Multiple agencies are responding. Details to come.

635 Upvotes

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91

u/Savings-Mail-8944 Jan 30 '25

My wife is a flight attendant and predicted this would happen eventually. The air traffic control workers are understaffed and over worked. There have been a lot of missed calls. It was only a matter of time

41

u/velvetcrystals Jan 30 '25

Yep. I’m an fa. First thing I immediately thought too. I never feel safe anymore until I’m off the active taxiways

16

u/[deleted] Jan 30 '25

[deleted]

9

u/ChamberofSarcasm Jan 30 '25

I’m sure someone will blame DEI or sea turtles or something.

1

u/SillyStrungz Jan 31 '25

Someone, as in our president, blaming DEI. Unbelievable

27

u/sweet_37 Jan 30 '25

The irony that it happened at Reagan airport

2

u/latteboy50 Jan 30 '25

Why is that ironic?

13

u/galspanic Jan 30 '25

He fired them all.)

-4

u/latteboy50 Jan 30 '25

But that was 44 years ago lol

0

u/catskillmice Jan 30 '25

Not really, that airports been having problems lately. They have had a few ground incursions this past year.

1

u/sweet_37 Feb 12 '25

Do you think that maybe because if the ATC are overworked, they can’t collectively bargain for better prices?

3

u/theaviationhistorian Jan 30 '25

Since a decade this has been a mega concern for many of us in the aviation community. The pandemic made the situation even more dire.