Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger shared his expert opinion on what he thinks went wrong in the fatal crash of American Airlines Flight 5342 during an appearance on MSNBC on Thursday morning.
Sullenberger stressed that it was important not to jump to conclusions about what led to the crash, which killed at least 67 people as it collided with an Army helicopter as it approached Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday night.
“It’s early, we really don’t know much yet,” Sullenberger said on “Morning Joe.” Still, the retired captain explained the “common technique” called “visual separation” that he believed was involved in the crash.
“That transfers the separation responsibility from the air traffic controller to the pilot tools that said that they have the aircraft in sight,” Sullenberger said about the U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter.
The military craft is “supposed to be looking at” and maintaining “their own separation” from the airplane, he explained.
“Obviously, that separation at some point was lost,” Sullenberger said. “So that clearly is going to be something that’s going to be looked at, along with perhaps hundreds or thousands of other facts and contributing factors.”
Sullenberger famously saved 150 lives when he safely landed a crashing U.S. Airways flight on the Hudson River in 2009. His heroic effort was later made into a movie, aptly titled “Sully,” by Clint Eastwood in 2016, with Tom Hanks starring as the captain.
On Thursday, Sullenberger said it could take up to a year before a final report is shared with the public on the crash. This was the first commercial airline crash in the U.S. since 2009.
“Throughout the history of aviation… we have learned from costly lessons, often with blood,” he added. “And it’s important to always realize that as safe as we have made aviation, we can’t relax. We have to keep on working harder and anticipate the next challenge.”
