"It could take over a year..."

[unicorn]

I must admit that I saw red when I heard an FAA official on the radio yesterday say that the investigation into the fatal plane crash near DCA "could take over a year." The news report said that there were over FIFTY investigators on the case! Lives are at stake at this busy airport, and the causes for this accident need to be determined and addressed ASAP! The traffic control recordings and black boxes are available, so this really should not be a dragged out investigation. Already, it appears that the helicopter pilot bears at least a good deal of the responsibility, which should easily be confirmed with the black box data. While that piece of the problem fixed itself, hopefully there are other factors which can be addressed promptly in order to make landing at that airport--and not in "over a year." 

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/31/business/dc-plane-helicopter-crash-cause.html

"...The requested route — referred to as Route 4 at Reagan National — followed a specific path known to the air traffic controller and helicopter pilots. The helicopter confirmed visual sight of a regional jet and the air traffic controller instructed the helicopter to follow the route and fly behind the plane. But the helicopter did not follow the intended route, the people briefed on the matter said. Rather, it was above 300 feet, when it was supposed to be flying below 200 feet, and it was at least a half-mile off the approved route when it collided with the commercial jet...". 

One can only hope that the helicopter pilot was a heterosexual cis white male, to avoid giving fake talking points to Agent Orange.

[omega]

There will be preliminary reports, and recommendations for immediate safety improvements where needed.

The goal of Air Accident Investigations are to uncover the every aspect of what went wrong in an incident. The investigators need to fully follow every thread on every little detail of that night so that they capture exactly why it happened and how it happened.

That takes time, and should not be rushed.

[Travelingguy]

This investigation could result in different questions being asked. For example, flying in an altitude less than 200 feet in a black hawk helicopter, which would have a certain height which would mean that your landing gear are probably within less than 150 feet of the ground. If you’re complying with this limit, it might be too low particularly at night. It also may be a difficult altitude to maintain. So, if the altitude limitation and the path present their own problems, one could describe this accident as just something waiting to happen. In which case the answer might be that there should be more separation both in time and space between helicopter, traffic and jet traffic.

These are the sorts of questions that come up when you are trying to prevent future accidents rather than just trying to assign blame for a particular accident on somebody in particular. The best way to prevent future accidents is through systemic changes that make it harder for a mistake to be made.  Just insisting that everyone do better usually results in the same thing happening again and again.