An American Airlines jet and a U.S. Army helicopter plunged into the Potomac River after a midair collision Wednesday night near Reagan National Airport outside Washington, D.C.
  • splinter@lemm.eeEnglish
    22·
    19 hours ago

    It appears at the moment that the instructions were acknowledged and that the helicopter pilots were mistaken about which plane they were avoiding, not that they ignored instructions.

    And regardless, the purpose of an air traffic controller is to monitor traffic continuously. Having the prescribed number of atcs would have made space for the tower to see that the helicopter was on a collision course and act to avoid it.