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Retired airline pilot gives insight into what could have happened in Potomac River aviation crash

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A retired airline pilot who’s flown into Regan National Aiport many times is providing his insight into what could have occurred when a commercial flight and helicopter crashed into the Potomac River.  Chris Chmura reports.

A retired airline pilot who's flown into Reagan National Airport many times is providing his insight into what could have occurred when a commercial flight and helicopter crashed into the Potomac River.

Investigators and crews are on the scene after an American Airlines flight and a military helicopter collided and crashed into the Potomac River near Reagan National Airport Wednesday evening. Doug Rice, a retired American Airlines pilot, said it would take time for investigators to answer questions, but the support of busy landscape and cockpit technology could give early clues.

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Rice said the everyday scramble of airline and government helicopters on the Potomac River is a "helicopter highway." Air traffic controllers order jets and choppers to maintain their space near what is regarded as the country's busiest single runway.

"We develop a trust that people are going to follow the rules," Rise said.

Investigators will comb through the wreckage, and likely will use clues from the so-called black boxes, flight recorders and cockpit voice recorders.

Rice said investigators might be able to hear the final seconds just before and after the collision took place.

"All of the sudden there would be an impact of some sort," he said. "They’d be fighting for control. They’d have maybe five seconds after impact with the other aircraft before they impacted the river.”

Rice added that modern aircraft are equipped with a traffic collision avoidance system, dubbed TCAS, but he suspects the low altitude of the crash kept it quiet.

"The problem we’re going to hear about tonight’s accident is the fact that the TCAS is inhibited below 700 feet. So, it will not give a warning," he said.

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