TULSA, Okla. — The Jan. 29 deadly midair collision in Washington, D.C., has spurred lots of questions and speculation about the airspace around the nation’s capital city.
2 News Oklahoma’s Douglas Braff listened to a local pilot with extensive experience flying out of that airport.
Captain Dale Cuckler said “I was horrified” when he learned what happened in Washington, when American Airlines Flight 5342 flying from Wichita, Kansas, collided with a military helicopter as it was approaching the airport.
Federal officials said all 64 people on the plane and all three on the helicopter died.
Cuckler flew commercial flights for United Airlines and Continental Airlines for decades, many of them out of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (or DCA, for short). After retiring 10 years ago, he now flies smaller corporate planes.
"Anytime you have something of this nature, because of the years and years of training and experience,” he said, “you wonder all of the complexities of it and all that goes through your mind.”
“It really affects me and affects most pilots that have been there. I've been in that very, very spot so many times," he added.
2 News visited “Cuckler Hanger” at Tulsa Riverside Airport to learn more about what it’s like flying out of DCA.
He said, “It is congested, but not any more so than most of the major airports, especially in the Northeast.”
Cuckler explained that there are multiple arrival routes going into the airport, with designated pathways and altitudes separating incoming passenger jets and helicopters.
"It's a very simple arrival situation, especially the direction that they were coming from,” he said. “The southern arrival, you vector down around Mount Vernon and then you turn up the Potomac River and intercept the final approach course and land. Very simple, very simple."
Cuckler told us aviation is a tight-knit community, saying, “Quite often you run into acquaintances that you've flown with or met or talked with before in various places.”
When a tragic incident like the one involved Flight 5342 happens, he said “it can be” a fright.
“It's a very sobering thought as you can only imagine with the circumstances involved last night,” he added. “And it makes you think, makes you rethink about all the what ifs and possibilities. … Additionally, just the sorrow for the loss of life.”
Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere --
- Download our free app for Apple, Android and Kindle devices.
- Sign up for daily newsletters emailed to you
- Like us on Facebook
- Follow us on Instagram
- SUBSCRIBE on YouTube
