Rita. 500 hours is when I made HAC, flew in SoCal that has myriad class airspace and tons of traffic. This mission flying single-ship along the Potomac River below 200' even through the ATA night VFR WITH NVGs is a simple mission. The copilot reports so far indicate someone who wasn't a Pilot but a dabbler since all she got were her mins. But the Aircraft Commander had ample experience. They weren't landing @ Reagan just transiting. Near misses are pilot problems and usually not the commercial guys, although you do see some @ joint use facilities.
The 500 hour assigned pilot evidently had some problems.
In this case, 500 hours alone isn’t readiness. Mastery is relative. Factors effecting it are also relative. She may have clocked 300 hrs over the AZ desert after school.
The AE passenger plane was on course, but even so was still left a sitting duck. I haven’t heard why. 😕