Local aviation expert says midair collisions are ‘extremely rare’ despite tragedy in Washington D.C.

BOSTON — It was a somber day for people flying Thursday after seeing the deadly plane crash in D.C.

Ally Brown flew into Boston from Reagan International Airport Thursday afternoon.

“We took the metro in from the city so we crossed the river, and we could just see some of the search boats,” said Brown. “I definitely felt kind of emotional seeing all the stuff.”

After seeing a tragedy like this, aviation experts want to remind everyone how rare this was.

“It’s extremely rare, we have probably the best air traffic control system in the world,” said Kevin O’Leary, CEO of Jet Advisors.

O’Leary says of the 208 million domestic flights since the year 2000, there have been only 7 deadly commercial plane crashes before this one.

“There have been seven accidents that have concluded their research on, and four of them were pilot error, and three were mechanical errors,” said O’Leary.

Still, seeing the horrific images of this plane crash may cause anxiety.

“So what our brains do when we see a tragedy when we see something that might be a threat to us is our bodies do exactly what they’re supposed to do, which they become vigilant which causes us to be anxious and watchful and worried,” said Dr. Ellen Braaten, child psychologist at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Dr. Braaten says it’s important to realize there really isn’t a threat and many people may need to separate the grief that you may feel from the anxiety that it can cause.

“We need to look at that logical part of our brains that really can tell us that things will be safe, that this is the best form of travel that there is,” said Dr. Braaten.

O’Leary says after every airplane accident the NTSB makes suggestions to the FAA to only make airlines even safer.

“This is completely avoidable, and I think we’ll learn from this and we’ll move on, I don’t think we’ll see something like this again,” said O’Leary.

Dr. Braaten says if you are feeling down or anxious because of this tragedy, try to take a break from looking at all the videos and images of this plane crash on social media.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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