Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., a retired Army officer, told Newsmax on Thursday that he doesn't understand how the collision between an American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter happened Wednesday at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, D.C.
"As a flight surgeon in the Army's premier special operations aviation unit, I just don't see how this could happen," Green said on "Wake Up America." "This is probably the most de-conflicted airspace in the country, with the amount of radar to protect, of course, the president and our seat of government. So, when did ATC [air traffic control] recognize there was a potential conflict? Those are questions we have to look into, what the pilots actually saw in that military aircraft. Looks like they kind of came up from behind or to the side of the commercial aircraft.
"Typically, in these types of things, and I've done these investigations, the human side of it, the pilot's health and all that stuff, when a crash happens … it's always multiple errors that lead to these kinds of things. It's not just one thing. But that's what the NTSB [National Transportation Safety Bureau] will do. They'll dig into it and figure it out. But I'm just amazed at how it could happen in this airspace and with a military aircraft."
Asked if the airspace at Ronald Reagan National Airport is getting too crowded with commercial and military flights, and if the airport should be permanently shut down for safety reasons, Green said, "This could have easily been de-conflicted."
"This should not have happened," he said. "Something went wrong. Just saying, 'OK, we're going to shut this airport down,' I think is the wrong answer. It's figuring out why the de-confliction didn't happen, what those errors were, and making sure those don't happen again. The airport serves economic benefit to this community, and it should be able to be de-conflicted."
Officials said Thursday that no survivors had been found and that all 60 passengers and four crew members aboard the American Airlines jet, as well as the three soldiers onboard the Black Hawk helicopter, were believed dead. Green explained why the likelihood of surviving the crash was slim.
"As a flight surgeon, you're part of the crew and you do the egress drills that the pilots do because you're in the aircraft with them and dunker training, where they drop the helicopter in the water and you have to try to find your way out with a blacked-out mask," he said.
"It's incredibly difficult. You have to know where the openings are and feel your way. You think of those civilians, that's not something they're trained to do. So, when that aircraft hits the water, them unbuckling, grabbing a deep breath and trying to find their way out in cold, black water. It's just almost impossible. And a plunge of 400 feet, most of them were probably unconscious at impact."
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Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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