>>2032775
The ATC should have cancelled the landing and ordered the CRJ to go-around and increase altitute to create a greater than 100ft clearance between the two aircraft. The ATC is conductor, he tells the instruments how they are to be played, regardless of the violinist being the proximate cause of the music.

>>2032777
>how it works
It didn't work, did it? The ATC's systems failed. They failed because they regarded a 100ft clearance as an adequate safety measure and allowed the aircraft to cross paths with a 100ft altitude difference. The ATC could see that the heli was operating with (at best) a cavalier approach to navigating the plane and should have revoked his permission for the heli to navigate the plane by visual separation. It's not enough to say: "the heli told me he would separate visually" when the ATC can see the revealed actions of the heli's flight track show he is on track for a crossed path with, at ideal best, a 100ft separation. What the heli is communicating must be ignored by the ATC when it does not correspond with the actual actions the helicopter is taking. The ATC placed on over reliance on the words of the helicopter instead of what the helicopter had revealed by its actions: that is was tracking into a crossed path with, at best, a 100ft clearance.

It's very stupid to say: "the heli shouldn't have crashed into the plane, therefore there's nothing the traffic controller could do." The traffic controller is there to conduct the aircraft in a way that navigational mistakes do not result in catastrophic failings because the ATC has allowed room for error so as to not result in a mid-air collision.

It's just a fact that the helicopter had priority air designation (PAT); there is a legitimate need for helicopters to fly governmental VIPs around the capital. It was up to the ATC to direct the plane around the heli by cancelling the landing permission and ordering a go-around until the helicopter had cleared the landing approach.

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American Airlines Flight 5342 collides midair with Sikorsky H-60 helicopter