Pilots have long worried about DC's complex airspace contributing to a catastrophe

Rick Larsenmember

The slow process begins of investigating the root cause. So, the timeline is the timeline. I expect a preliminary report in several weeks,

Larsen said

Roger Marshallsenator

Clearly this was a confluence of errors. … It’s unacceptable, and I appreciate President Trump and his team saying there’s challenges here, there’s problems here, and we’re going to correct them,

Marshall said

Roger Marshallsenator

Certainly that’s what it looks like to me. I understand that commonly happens — the military aircraft shares its shared airspace with the civilian aircraft. But is that necessary? Are we just inviting a disaster to happen? And I think that’s a question that I want answered as well.”

Asked if he’s concerned about air congestion in the region, Marshall replied

Tim Kainesenator

With congestion, you run into risks of safety,

Kaine said

Tim Kainesenator

But yeah, I’ve been very, very concerned about this very complex airspace — commercial, military — and the way that the security demands of being the nation’s capital puts some significant restrictions on it. And I am really worried about that,

Kaine continued

I’ve been praying that there wouldn’t be something like last night, ... but kind of dreading in my heart that there would be.”

he said

You'd expect the pilot of the helicopter to actually see the incoming aircraft, because not only would it be landing, but it had landing lights on,

Julian said

These are experienced pilots. I know that the captain had … almost six years with PSA (Airlines), and the first officer almost two years."

American Airlines

This was a dark and excruciating night in our nation’s capital and in our nation’s history, and a tragedy of terrible proportions,

the new president added

The helicopter pilot might have been distracted or they might have been taking part in a training exercise where they deliberately turn off bits of kit and you have to do a workaround."

He said

I put safety first. Obama, Biden and the Democrats put policy first."

He said

I just saw a fireball and then it was just gone,

Another pilot in the vicinity reported ... communicating the harrowing scene over the radio

This could have easily been de-conflicted."

Asked if the airspace at Ronald Reagan National Airport is getting too crowded with commercial and military flights, and if the airport should be permanently shut down for safety reasons, Green said