Moran asks federal officials to keep airspace restrictions at D.C. airport in place
U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran demanded commitments from federal officials during hearings Thursday to keep airspace safe at Reagan Washington National Airport, the site of a deadly collision in January. (Kansas Reflector screen capture of U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran's YouTube channel)
TOPEKA — U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran pressed federal officials Wednesday on how they intend to ensure safety at the Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C., in the wake of a January crash between a passenger plane from Wichita and an Army helicopter that left no survivors.
Moran, a Kansas Republican, questioned U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Federal Aviation Administration administrator nominee Bryan Bedford at separate committee hearings Wednesday on whether they would commit to keeping in place restrictions on non-essential helicopter flights around the D.C. airport.
'It's my understanding, from information from the Army, that since Jan. 29, seven flights have taken off and landed at the Pentagon,' Moran said to Hegseth. 'Six of those flights occurred during periods of high volume at DCA. One of those aircraft caused two different commercial flights to abort landing on May 1, and since this latest incident, I understand that all flights have been halted.'
Since the January crash, Moran has pushed for aviation reforms, introducing legislation that mandates in busy airspace the use of Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast, or ADS-B, which automatically transmits an aircraft's location to nearby pilots once per second. The legislation also removes the possibility for pilots to opt out of using ADS-B.
Moran introduced that legislation after close calls at the same airport where the crash took place. The Pentagon, which is less than two miles away from Reagan National as the crow flies, halted military helicopter flights near the airport. The legislation has been in a committee awaiting action since it was introduced in early May.
Moran wants the flight restrictions in place until the FAA can come up with a safe route, if there is one.
Hegseth, in response, said no authorization for VIP or convenience flights exists in that area.
'You have our assurance that I'm working with (Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy) very closely to make sure that the only flights that would be — even in a modified path — would be those that are necessary and are authorized,' Hegseth said.
Moran sits on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, where he questioned Hegseth, and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, where he requested a commitment from Bedford to maintain safety restrictions.
'My understanding is the FAA is supreme when it comes to the control of the airspace,' Bedford said. 'But we want to be good partners with the Department of Defense, and we have protocols on how to do that — multiple protocols, as I understand.'
The FAA creates military operating areas, which include restricted and prohibited spaces, and line of fire space and alert zones, and determines the airspace classifications around airports. The busiest airports, like Reagan, are Class B airspace. Bedford said the FAA can accommodate the U.S. Department of Defense's needs, but he added, 'we can't have this mixed-use traffic in Class B airspace.'
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