US airlines’ 16-year safety record ended with tragedy. There were warnings ahead of the crash

US airlines had gone 16 years without a fatal crash until Wednesday night. But as impressive as that safety record had been, there have been warning signs in recent years of a significant risk of a collision like the one that just killed 67 people.

US airlines had gone 16 years without a fatal crash until Wednesday night. But as impressive as that safety record had been, there have been warning signs in recent years of a significant risk of a collision like the one that just killed 67 people. A regional jet from Wichita, Kansas, operated as an American Airlines flight by feeder carrier PSA Airlines, was preparing to land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport when it collided with a US Army Blackhawk helicopter that was crossing its path just a few hundred feet above the ground. The cause of the crash was unknown Thursday as the investigation is just beginning. It was the first fatal crash of a commercial US airplane since 2009. As safe as air travel has become, the US air travel system has been under increasing stress in recent years — with a well-established shortage of the air traffic controllers throughout the nation, despite years of attempting to ramp up hiring. And congestion in many major metropolitan areas, especially around Washington DC, make flying riskier than 16 crash-free years might suggest. “I’m saddened, but I’m not surprised,” said Anthony Brickhouse, an aviation safety expert. “In the last two to three years, we’ve had so many close calls with commercial planes having near collisions in and near airport environments. If changes aren’t made, you eventually meet with tragedy.” Experts say that while America retains a gold standard for airline safety and that commercial air travel is the safest form of travel, there are stresses on the system that have been apparent in a series of near tragedies in recent years. A strained air traffic control system and congestion in the air space over many major cities has squeezed the margins of safety needed to operate the America’s air transportation system, Captain Dennis Tajer, an American Airlines pilot, told CNN early Thursday.