KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Captain Gregg Bourdon said he was stunned hearing the news of a mid-air crash near Washington, D.C. earlier this week.
On Wednesday, a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and a commercial airplane coming from Wichita, Kansas, collided over the Potomac River. Officials are saying there are no survivors.
"When I thought about it, you know, and I realized the complexity of that airspace, I thought, you know, I could see how this could happen," Bourdon said.
An Army veteran and a helicopter pilot of 40 years, Bourdon also flew KSHB 41's Skytracker for 15 years.
Bourdon said he's flown over Kansas City International Airport hundreds of times. He said it's not as busy as Reagan National Airport, but the same rules apply.
"Your attention is completely and totally on what’s going on at international because the helicopters are so unusual to them," Bourdon said. "Airplanes are brought in on radar and they’re brought in to the runway. Or when they're departing, they're launched off the runway and they're sent to a specific spot. Helicopters, it's a little more random."
Bourdon also said it can be hard to fly at night, especially over airports like the one in downtown Kansas City, where there are a lot of lights.
"Could be towers and different things that are around the city and flashing, and it's easy for them to mix with another aircraft," he said.
As a flight instructor now, Bourdon preaches situational awareness.
"It's gotten more challenging in modern times because there's so much information in the cockpit now, because there are so many displays," he said.
Even with a flight crew, Bourdon said it can still be challenging to pay attention to your surroundings.
"That is a constant struggle is how much attention for the flight crew is inside the aircraft and how much of it is outside." he said.
Bourdon said a mid-air crash like this is very rare, and he hopes something will change so it never happens again.
"This accident is obviously extremely high profile and something, I think, will change as a result to this," he said.
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KSHB 41 reporter Caroline Hogan covers development across the Kansas City area. Share your story idea with Caroline.