To be clear, there should be no assumption that any control tower or pilot human errors are being blamed for the tragic January 29 collision between a landing commuter jet and a military helicopter resulting in 70 deaths at Reagan National Airport (DCA) unless or until all possible contributing factors are expertly examined by FAA’s National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

Nevertheless, there is total certainty that the control tower operator on duty that evening, an individual who — regardless of innocence and circumstances — will carry the emotional weight of that horror throughout his life.

As a former U.S. Air Force air traffic controller, albeit a great many years ago, being party to a fatal event, most particularly involving any action or response failure on my part, would have been unimaginably traumatic.

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