Aviation expert: ‘I do still believe air travel is safe’

Since the mid-air crash between American Airlines flight 5342 and a U.S. Army helicopter in Washington, D.C., earlier this month, Shawn Pruchnicki has spoken to more than 40 media outlets.

Pruchnicki, an assistant professor in the Center for Aviation Studies in the College of Engineering at The Ohio State University, has an unusual background that includes time spent as a commercial airline pilot, a pharmacist, a firefighter and an accident investigator.

The point Pruchnicki has tried to make in every interview is a simple one: Don’t speculate.

“As we say in the accident investigation business, ‘Don’t fall in love with a theory,’” he said. “It’s hard to do. Sometimes you show up at an accident site and it might look obvious. It’s easy to get sucked in and say, ‘I know what caused this. Now we have to find evidence and then we’re done.’ Investigators know you have to stay objective.”

It is this objectivity that has put Pruchnicki on televisions around the world – a role he said he’s happy to fill.

“One of the reasons I do as much media work as I do is to keep one more person off the air from [speculating],” he said.

Pruchnicki’s primary task as an investigator is detective work, he said. And that’s what investigators will do in this situation. A significant data source has been recovered from both aircraft, the flight data recorder (FDR) and the cockpit voice recorder (CVR). These are commonly known as “black boxes.”

“[The FDR] shows us exactly what the plane was doing,” he said. “It records every few seconds, all these parameters. Engine, pitch, airspeed, altitude, thrust. It paints a picture of what the plane was doing from a mechanical perspective. Unbelievably helpful.”

The CVR records everything happening in the cockpit, as its name indicates. Sometimes, Pruchnicki said, that information is not terribly helpful.

“Sometimes accidents happen so fast,” he said. “Everything is fine on the flight deck and then, within seconds, everything’s not fine and the record stops because the plane was destroyed.”

If the pilots and crew do discuss something they’ve seen or a maneuver of some kind, however, these recordings can be invaluable.

“What’s really going to be interesting is the discussion in the helicopter,” Pruchnicki said. “That’s the vehicle that crashed into the plane so if there was a conversation … it’s going to be illuminating.”

The details that come from these recordings could answer a number of questions. Things that seem obvious in video footage may not be so clear to pilots, he said. Like how a helicopter pilot could miss an airplane in such close proximity.

“There are blind spots in airplanes, just like in your car,” he said. “If that plane was hiding behind a blind spot and both aircraft are moving at the same rate, it’s referred to as ‘no relative motion.’ You’re going to block each other.”

Another factor that could render a large plane almost invisible? Lights causing confusion at night.

“You’ve seen how it’s obvious when an airplane is coming at you,” he said. “It’s a huge bright light, right? But at the side, all you see is a little strobe light on the wings. And then you add in the background lighting [of a city].”

Unfortunately, Pruchnicki said, aviation experts have long been concerned about a mid-air collision. Close calls have been on the rise. A shortage of air traffic controllers has played a significant role.

Reagan is a complex airport, he said, and on the day of the crash, one person was responsible for two radio frequencies, normally a two-person job.

“I feel so bad for that controller, being put in that position,” he said. “I feel so bad for that supervisor who had to tell them to work two frequencies. What a terrible position for them both.”

Despite the tragedy, Pruchnicki was back on a plane not even a week later.

“I do still believe air travel is safe,” he said.

The systems used by the Federal Aviation Administration provide a wide safety margin. However, that margin has shrunk some in recent years.

“Has this margin eroded to a degree? Yes, it has,” he said. “But there is still a significant margin there and that’s why I feel comfortable flying with my wife and my children. This was a wake-up call.”

In the aftermath of a collision, investigators will pore over data and equipment to ascertain what happened, but not just to avoid similar events in the future, Pruchnicki said. It’s also to provide some kind of closure for the victims and their families.

“Who is going to speak for the dead?” he said. “They’ve been silenced forever. Who’s going to figure this out for them? They deserve that, they deserve for someone to get to the bottom of what happened. They deserve not to be forgotten.”