Hotline between military and air traffic controllers in Washington hasn't worked for over 3 years
A hotline between military and civilian air traffic controllers in Washington, D.C., that hasn't worked for more than three years may have contributed to another near miss shortly after the Army resumed flying helicopters in the area for the first time since January's deadly midair collision between a passenger jet and a Black Hawk helicopter. Sen. Ted Cruz said a hearing Wednesday.
The Federal Aviation Administration official in charge of air traffic controllers, Frank McIntosh, confirmed that the agency didn't even know the hotline hadn't been working since March 2022 until after the latest near miss. He said civilian controllers did still have other means of communicating with their military counterparts through landlines, but the FAA is insisting the hotline be fixed before helicopter flights resume around Ronald Reagan National Airport.
Defense department officials didn't immediately respond to questions Wednesday about the near miss earlier this month and the steps it is taking to ensure helicopter flights in the area are safe. The FAA didn't immediately answer follow-up questions after the hearing about how that hotline was supposed to be used.
'The developments at DCA (Reagan airport) in its airspace are extremely concerning,' Cruz said. 'This committee remains laser focused on monitoring a safe return to operations at DCA and making sure all users in the airspace are operating responsibly.'
The Army suspended all helicopter flights around Reagan airport after the latest near miss, but McIntosh said the FAA was close to ordering the Army to stop flying because of the safety concerns before it did so voluntarily.
'We did have discussions if that was an option that we wanted to pursue,' McIntosh told the Senate Commerce Committee at the hearing.
January's crash between an American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter killed 67 people — making it the deadliest plane crash on U.S. soil since 2001. The National Transportation Safety Board has said there were an alarming 85 near misses around Reagan in the three years before the crash that should have prompted action.
Since the crash, the FAA has tried to ensure that military helicopters never share the same airspace as planes, but controllers had to order two planes to abort their landings on May 1 because of an Army helicopter circling near the Pentagon.
In addition to that incident, a commercial flight taking off from Reagan airport had to take evasive action after coming within a few hundred feet of four military jets heading to a flyover at Arlington National Cemetery. McIntosh blamed that incident on a miscommunication between FAA air traffic controllers at a regional facility and the tower at Reagan that he said had been addressed.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
23 minutes ago
- The Guardian
RFK Jr announces new panel of vaccine advisers after firing entire previous team
Robert Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, named new members to serve on a key panel of vaccine advisers on Wednesday after abruptly firing all 17 sitting members of the independent panel of experts, according to a post on X. The eight new members of the advisory committee for immunization practices are: Joseph R Hibbeln, Martin Kulldorff, Retsef Levi, Robert W Malone, Cody Meissner, James Pagano, Vicky Pebsworth and Michael A Ross. 'All of these individuals are committed to evidence-based medicine, gold-standard science, and common sense,' Kennedy said in a post on X. The panel is part of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Kennedy said the new members are committed to demanding definitive safety and efficacy data before making any new vaccine recommendations. Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic, has alleged that the prior panel members, many of whom were appointed by former President Joe Biden, had conflicts of interest, without providing evidence of specific members' conflicts, and said the move was necessary 'to re-establish public confidence in vaccine science'. Numerous physician groups have expressed concern and suspicion over Kennedy's unprecedented removal of all the panel's prior members. The American Medical Association, the nation's largest physician group, has called for a Senate investigation into their dismissal, and sent Kennedy a letter calling for an immediate reversal of the changes.
The Independent
26 minutes ago
- The Independent
Fort Bragg soldiers behind Trump during speech were screened for loyalty and appearance, report says: ‘No fat soldiers'
Soldiers appearing near President Donald Trump at a Tuesday speech at Fort Bragg were reportedly screened for their partisan politics and physical appearance. Ahead of Trump's visit to the North Carolina base, service members were asked to alert superiors if they had political differences with Trump so they could be removed, reports, citing internal 82nd Airborne Division communications. "If soldiers have political views that are in opposition to the current administration and they don't want to be in the audience then they need to speak with their leadership and get swapped out," one note to troops obtained by the outlet said. Another allegedly focused on the troops' physical appearance, bluntly commanding, 'No fat soldiers.' "This has been a bad week for the Army for anyone who cares about us being a neutral institution," a commander at Fort Bragg told the outlet. "This was shameful. I don't expect anything to come out of it, but I hope maybe we can learn from it long term." The Independent has contacted the 82nd Airborne Division for comment. During Trump's visit, a vendor was also reportedly allowed to sell campaign-style Make America Great Again merchandise to troops, and the crowd of soldiers booed and cheered at Trump's partisan speech, all of which broke with the military's tradition and regulations around remaining non-political. "Believe me, no one needs to be encouraged to boo the media," Sean Parnell, a top Pentagon spokesperson, said in response to the reporting. "Look no further than this query, which is nothing more than a disgraceful attempt to ruin the lives of young soldiers." The Tuesday speech in question saw Trump lash out at Democratic opponents like California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, baselessly accusing them of paying L.A. protesters and backing 'troublemakers, agitators and insurrectionists.' The president also defended his decision to send federalized California National Guard troops into the Los Angeles crisis over the objections of state and local leaders. 'Generations of Army heroes did not shed their blood on distant shores only to watch our country be destroyed by invasion and third-world lawlessness here at home, like is happening in California,' Trump said. 'As Commander in Chief, I will not let that happen. It's never going to happen.' Some criticized the event, arguing Trump was breaking longstanding political norms around respecting the military's independence. 'No president in modern history has done more to put the military in the middle of political and cultural crossfire than Donald Trump,' one columnist wrote in The New York Times. The criticisms come as Trump has pushed the boundaries of military norms in response to the Los Angeles protests by federalizing state National Guard troops and sending Marines to join in with the local police response to the civil unrest, coming perilously close to using the military for domestic law enforcement. The president has also vowed to use force on those who protest a Saturday parade in Washington for the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army's founding that coincides with Trump's birthday. Other presidents have been accused of using appearances alongside the military for political points, including Joe Biden, who was criticized for a 2022 anti-Trump speech at Independence Hall in Philadelphia that featured Marines in dress uniforms in the background.
The Independent
36 minutes ago
- The Independent
An AP photographer captures a powerful moment in the chaos of the Los Angeles protests
Jae Hong is based in Los Angeles and has worked with The Associated Press for more than 18 years, covering many of the city's biggest stories. Hong says protests in LA can change very quickly — one moment peaceful, the next chaotic — but he always tries to stay safe while telling the story through his images. Why I took this photo The protests against President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown had been growing since Friday after a raid by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement downtown. I knew Sunday would be the biggest, most tense day. The National Guard had been called in, bringing even more people into the streets. How I made this photo When the protesters gathered again in front of the Metropolitan Detention Center, I followed. At first, it was peaceful. But moments later, LA police officers in riot gear arrived, ready to clear the area. A few hundred protesters moved onto the freeway and blocked the southbound lanes. The officers quickly surrounded the protesters, pushing them back onto the on-ramp. I was trapped in the middle of the crowd and the officers on the ramp, packed in so tightly that I could barely move. I kept my camera up to my eye, trying to capture the protesters' anger and fear. In the middle of it all, through the smoke and chaos, I saw this moment: A woman in a gas mask, standing face to face with a line of police in full riot gear, her hands raised, not to fight, not to give up, but appealing for calm. Why this photo works This photo shows the range of emotions in the crowd as protesters stood their ground. The smoke filling the air makes the moment feel even more intense. And it happened in broad daylight on a major Los Angeles freeway, making it even more powerful. ___ For more extraordinary AP photography, click here.
