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Hero Captain ‘Sully’ Sullenberger weighs in on devastating Washington DC plane crash, ‘We've had to…’
Captain Sully, who famously landed a plane on the Hudson River in 2009, reacted to Wednesday's American Airlines regional jet-army Black Hawk chopper collision
Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger III weighed in on the devastating Washington DC plane crash, in which all 67 people involved have been presumed dead. The 74-year-old, who famously landed a plane on the Hudson River in 2009, shared his analysis of Wednesday's mid-air collision of an American Airlines regional jet and an army Black Hawk chopper in a New York Times interview. While he pointed out that aviation today is “exceptionally safe,” the hero pilot admitted, “We have the obligation to learn from every failure and improve.”
Hero pilot weighs in on devastating Washington DC plane crash
“We’ve had to learn important lessons literally with blood too often, and we had finally gotten beyond that, to where we could learn from incidents, and not accidents,” Sullenberger shared during Thursday's interview before explaining the problem the pilots on the doomed aircraft were posed with. “Nighttime always makes things different about seeing other aircraft — basically all you can do is see the lights on them,” he said.
The retired aviator went on to say, “You have to try to figure out: Are they above you or below you? Or how far away? Or which direction are they headed,” adding, “Everything is harder at night.” While he noted that the pilots may have been impacted by the darkness, Sullenberger said, “We don't know” if that was for sure what happened. “I’m just devastated by this,” he went on before stressing “the obligation to learn from every failure and improve.”
On Wednesday, the PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet bound for DC from Wichita, Kansas, collided with a Sikorsky H-60 helicopter around 9 pm ET and crashed in the Potomac River near Reagan National Airport. The passenger flight was carrying 64 people, including four crew members, while three soldiers were on board the chopper. All 67 of those involved have been presumed dead, reported Fox News.
