LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A deadly collision near Washington, D.C., raises concerns about air traffic control and pilot awareness. Channel 13's Tricia Kean and Abel Garcia asked aviation experts for their opinions.
Channel 13 spoke to Chuck Stratton, a retired army helicopter pilot who's logged over 3,000 hours in Blackhawk helicopters. He is also an instructor pilot, which means Stratton teaches pilots how to fly Blackhawks and evaluates their performance.
Stratton tells Channel 13's Tricia Kean that, based on his experience, he has an idea of what could have gone wrong.
"In my opinion, had the air traffic controller been on top of it a little bit more, he should have said, 'Army 25, I show you at altitude so and so. Descend and maintain 200 feet or below or something like that.' That didn't happen. So, the pilot's up there higher, aircraft's coming in, he didn't see the aircraft, and flew in right into him as he started to make his turn to land on the runway. Never saw him. So, had he been down there, probably at 200 feet or lower, hugging the edge of that river, never would have happened. It's so tragic. Very tragic, preventable," said Stratton.
Stratton also thinks this terrible accident will change how army helicopters approach highly congested airports.
Stratton also says the army may end up installing traffic collision avoidance systems on these helicopters, which is a traffic collision alert system that commercial airlines are equipped with.
Abel Garcia also went to a North Las Vegas airport and met with Jeffrey Lustick, a local pilot and aviation attorney. He showed us how the equipment in his plane works and how it tracks the direction and altitude of other aircraft. Lustick told Garcia that Las Vegas is one of the nation's busiest air traffic hubs with constant arrivals and departures, plus tour helicopters navigating near Harry Reid International Airport.
Garcia: Do you think our pilots and air traffic control are prepared for situations like what happened on the East Coast?
Lustick: So, as in Las Vegas, then in most cities, we have predetermined air traffic control spaces, we have air spaces reserved for commercial flying, we also have routes for all of the tour helicopters that go in and out of Harry Reid Airport. So, in Las Vegas, I can safely say that we are prepared to keep those aircraft separated. The air traffic controllers are very highly trained and very professional.
Lustick says while it's been over 15 years since a major commercial crash, smaller airports have seen more frequent incidents involving private aircraft.
