The Nationwide Transportation Security Board uncovered greater than 15,000 “near-miss occasions” between helicopters and jets at Reagan Nationwide airport in simply three years main as much as the American Airways jet and Military helicopter collision that killed 67 folks.
Helicopter routes close to Reagan Nationwide airport recurrently trigger an “insupportable danger to aviation security,” NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy instructed reporters Tuesday throughout an replace on its investigation into the January 29 collision.
Along with the greater than 15,000 “close to miss” situations wherein helicopters and jets on the airport got here inside one nautical mile and 400 vertical ft of each other between October 2021 and December 2024, there have been one other 85 nearer calls when helicopters and planes got here inside 200 vertical ft of each other.
“We stay involved in regards to the vital potential for future midair collisions at DCA,” Homendy stated.
In response to the alarming findings, the NTSB stated it was recommending that the chopper route the place the catastrophic collision occurred be closed down, and an alternate route be established.
“We’re recommending a everlasting answer right this moment,” Homendy stated, later including that their findings had left her “offended” that nothing had been executed to mitigate this danger sooner.
The NTSB didn’t present solutions to lingering questions in regards to the heights the Black Hawk chopper was flying alongside that route when the collision occurred – explaining that investigators had been nonetheless analyzing flight information and wouldn’t reveal something however the information.
Flight information uncovered early within the crash investigation confirmed a conflicting account of the place every plane was flying when the accident occurred.
The jet’s flight recorded the American Airways airplane flying at round 313 ft when influence occurred, whereas the Reagan tower learn the chopper as flying at 278 ft.
Observe the NYP’s protection of the lethal DC airplane collision
The ceiling for helicopters flying over the Potomac River is 200 ft – which means preliminary info indicated they had been effectively above the protection restrict within the crowded skyway close to Reagan.
NTSB officers additionally stated it’s doable the Black Hawk crew had “dangerous information,” and that their devices weren’t displaying them their true altitude.
And simply seconds earlier than the wreck, the chopper crew might have missed a crucial management tower communication directing them to “move behind” the jet as a result of they keyed their radio to reply on the precise second that phrase was spoken.
The fiery wreck was the deadliest aviation catastrophe on US soil since November 12, 2001, when one other American Airways airplane dropped from the sky right into a Queens neighborhood shortly after departing JFK Worldwide airport in NYC and killed all 260 folks onboard and 5 folks on the bottom.
That accident was probably brought on by pilot error, the NTSB decided.
January’s wreck was carrying quite a few youngsters who had simply completed competing within the 2025 US Determine Skating Championship in Wichita, Kansas, together with their mother and father and coaches who had come alongside to help them.
A minimum of 14 of them had been members of the US Determine Skating staff, and the wreck gutted the tight-knit East Coast skating group.
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