Probably, but that pilot was it seems operating within a very risky environment (being able to see and avoid a plane in the dark in a place with many such plane

Probably, but that pilot was it seems operating within a very risky environment (being able to see and avoid a plane in the dark in a place with many such planes and other lighted objects) that with hindsight should not have existed. I'd certainly never have flown on a plane into DCA if I had known that military helicopters were routinely buzzing around in the same airspace with no technological deconfliction aids.