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Military aircraft collisions raise questions about training and equipment, says Expert
The US military helicopter goes down like the one that took a commercial US airline flight over the Potomac River in Washington, DC, Wednesday night is very rare, but there has been a uptick in these events in recent years, according to military statistics and an aviation expert .
A total of 64 people, including passengers and flight crew, were aboard AA Flight 5342 from Wichita to Reagan National Airport (DCA). Three soldiers conducted a training operation on Army Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk, who came from Fort Belvoir in Virginia.
“It certainly relates to the number of events that have been,” Timothy Loranger told Wisner Baum and a Marine Corps veteran, to Fox News Digital. “But if you compare it to the thousands and thousands of hours of flights that occur without any incident … it’s all very good.”
The collision has given rise to questions about how such a devastating accident could happen in one of the most closely controlled airspace in the country and the world. The last significant mortal commercial crash happened in 2009 when a Continental Airlines flight crashed into a house in Buffalo, New York, and killed 49 people.
“Is there anything we can point to? Training? Is the budget for the military sufficient to ensure that pilots and crew have enough training and experience to fly these aircraft?” Said Loranger. “These are the kinds of questions that need to be asked. If it’s a problem with the aircraft itself, a mechanical problem, what is it? Is it a design problem? Is it a production problem? Is it a maintenance problem?”
Military helicopter goes down while unusual, has occurred more frequently in the last year, according to hardeness.
