This story comes from our news partner, ABC13. For more on this story, click here.
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — In the coming days, we expect to hear a lot about safety surrounding passenger planes and helicopters after a regional American Airlines passenger jet and a Black Hawk military helicopter collided over Washington, D.C., on Wednesday night.
It’s the nation’s first major commercial airline crash since 2009.
No survivors are expected from the plane crash, D.C. Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly said in a Thursday morning news conference. Crews switched from a search and rescue operation to a recovery mission.
READ MORE: No survivors expected in DC midair crash between American Airlines jet, helicopter | What we know
ABC13 spoke with SkyEye reporter Tammy Rose about her experience flying close to airports in the Houston area.
Tammy said flying in busy airspaces, especially at night, can, “frankly, be quite scary.” She said the airspace at Reagan International Airport, where the crash happened, is very similar to that at Houston’s Hobby Airport, where SkyEye flies out of.
In Houston, the pilot’s first task is to check the conditions at Hobby Airport and surrounding airports. The pilot checks things like temporary flight restrictions, visibility, winds, and ceiling. If anything is out of place, SkyEye stays grounded.
In October of 2024, Houston had its own incident where a helicopter crashed into a radio tower, killing four people. That crash also happened in nighttime conditions.
Tammy said that when it comes to precautions when flying around other aircraft, it’s the pilot’s job to see and avoid them. That includes making sure there is a safe distance between them and the next aircraft.
If you are flying in a controlled airspace, like near Hobby Airport, the pilot gets directions from the control tower. Tammy said they generally like to keep 1,000 feet between aircraft vertically and three miles laterally, but that can all change depending on the controlled airspace.
Tammy said, in her opinion, close calls have become much too common. According to the FAA, in 2023, there were more than 300 near misses — a 25% increase over the past decade.
In 2007, Tammy said she covered a midair collision between two news media helicopters in Phoenix, Arizona. One of the recommendations that came out of the FAA investigation was to separate the pilot and reporter’s positions in the helicopter, just like ABC13 does with SkyEye.
“A lot of people don’t realize I am not the pilot. I am the reporter. My number one job, always, is to be that second set of eyes for the pilot,” Tammy said.
Tammy emphasized that the FAA and NTSB learn from these types of crashes and will eventually release a report with recommendations to make the skies safer.
“My heart just goes out to all the family and friends involved in this. Obviously, that’s always in the back of my mind when we’re up there flying,” Tammy said. “We know this can happen, so it’s just devastating circumstances what happened there at Reagan International Airport.”
