Experts warn of risk of air disaster in Washington

According to TASS on January 31, AP news agency reported that aviation experts have long warned that crowded airspace in Washington could lead to plane crashes.

According to AP, experts' fears were confirmed when a passenger plane collided with a military helicopter in the US capital on the evening of January 29 (local time).

“This was a disaster waiting to happen,” former United Airlines captain Ross Eymer told the AP. “We’ve been screaming for a long time that something like this could happen because our systems are so overloaded,” the pilot added.

Experts interviewed by the AP also noted that, even in good weather conditions, landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport, where the tragedy occurred, could be a challenge even for experienced pilots due to the large number of civilian and military aircraft converging in the area.

According to CBS, Reagan National Airport was originally designed to serve no more than 15 million passengers per year, but now serves more than 26 million passengers.

The incident occurred on January 29 (local time) when an American Eagle plane - a subsidiary of American Airlines - was approaching Ronald Reagan National Airport, carrying 64 people, crashed into the Potomac River due to a mid-air collision with a Black Hawk military helicopter on a training flight.

According to The Guardian, this is the first fatal commercial plane crash in the US since 2009.