Deadly DC plane crash leads transportation safety board to make urgent recommendations
On Jan. 29, an American Airlines jet with 60 passengers and four crew members collided with an U.S. Army Sikorsky UH-60L Black Hawk helicopter carrying three soldiers while the plane was coming in for a landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport. The crash sent both aircraft plunging into the Potomac River.
All 67 people aboard the two aircrafts were killed.
'Urgent recommendations require immediate action to prevent similar accidents or incidents,' Homendy said. 'When we issue them, we believe a critical safety issue must be addressed without delay. For this investigation, we're reviewing airport operations and prior incidents, including near-mid-air collision events.'
There were 944,179 commercial operations at the airport between October 2021 and December 2024. Over that span, there were 15,214 occurrences or close-proximity events between commercial airplanes and helicopters, meaning aircrafts were within one nautical mile of colliding with a helicopter and vertical separation was less than 400 feet, according to the transportation board investigation. Two-thirds of the events occurred in the evening.
'We remain concerned about future midair collisions at [Ronald Reagan National Airport], which is why we are recommending a permanent solution today,' Homendy said.
Homendy recommends the Federal Aviation Administration permanently prohibit helicopter travel along Route 4 between Hains Point and the Wilson Bridge when two of the runways are being used for departures and arrivals at the airport. An alternative helicopter route that can be used to 'facilitate travel between Hains Point and the Wilson Bridge when that segment of Route 4 is closed.'
'We've determined that the existing separation distances between helicopter traffic operating on Route 4 and aircraft landing on runway 33 are insufficient and pose an intolerable risk to aviation safety by increasing a midair collision at [Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport],' Homendy said.
The Black Hawk's cockpit voice and flight data recorder does not record information about date, time or position, according to Homendy.
The changes are needed amid ongoing concerns by the board about potentially more collisions occurring between helicopters and planes near Washington National Airport.
'As I mentioned in the press conference, there is inconsistency in the data, which led us to declare the press altitude parameter on the Black Hawk is invalid,' Homendy said.
The NTSB continues to investigate the collision.
'Right now, we are still in the fact-finding phase of this investigation,' Homendy said. 'I often say, 'The easiest and quickest part of the investigation is determining what happened. The part that takes longer is the how and why.''
_____
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox News
9 hours ago
- Fox News
Sean Duffy details spat with Elon Musk over firing air traffic controllers, says cabinet must call shots
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy appeared on the New York Post's "Pod Force One" podcast on Wednesday where he opened up about an earlier spat between him and former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) head Elon Musk. According to Duffy, the two had "a little back and forth" after Musk proposed the firing of "safety-critical positions," including air traffic controllers, which was a red line for the transportation secretary. "I think it might not have been intentional, might have been ham-handed by some of the requests that were made by DOGE, but my position was, we are not going to fire air traffic controllers," Duffy told the Post's Miranda Devine. The secretary explained that the conversation took place before the tragic plane crash in Washington, D.C., that killed dozens in January, noting, "This was before DCA. Safety critical positions are not going to be fired within the Department of Transportation." On January 27, an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided midair with a regional jet at Reagan National Airport (DCA) in Arlington, Virginia, killing 67 passengers. The collision brought heightened scrutiny to air travel safety, and more specifically, the state of the nation's air traffic control systems. The transportation secretary clarified that while he gets "along well enough" with Musk, "Elon — or no one else — is the secretary. I am. The Senate confirmed me." Duffy acknowledged that his department could "do things more efficiently," but insisted that firing air traffic controllers was not an option — a stance that apparently sparked the feud between him and the Tesla CEO. "There is fat we can – that we can cut, but we are not going to fire controllers," he told Devine. "And so we had a little back and forth, [but] we got along very well after that. I think the papers made it a bigger deal than it was." The transportation chief praised Elon for being an "amazing innovator," but reiterated that he is the one in charge of driving the nation's transportation policy, expressing relief that he followed his instincts and refused to fire air traffic controllers. "Elon is an amazing innovator. He's creative. And again, there's a lot to learn from him, but I run this department, and again, I didn't want someone on the outside trying to tell me to fire people," he explained. "Had I done that, had I actually fired controllers, oh, my — think what the liberal media would do to me. I would be slaughtered. We didn't, thank God, but [this] is why, throughout government, you have to make sure that the secretaries are the ones who are driving the policy." Fox News Digital has reached out to Elon Musk for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
New York Post
14 hours ago
- New York Post
Sean Duffy recounts spat with Elon Musk over cutting air traffic controllers: 'The Senate confirmed me'
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy opened up on the latest episode of 'Pod Force One' about his dispute with tech mogul Elon Musk over the billionaire's push to slash headcount in his department. Duffy told The Post's Miranda Devine in the new episode, out Wednesday, that he drew a red line at the prospect of firing so-called 'safety-critical positions,' including air traffic controllers. Every week, Post columnist Miranda Devine sits down for exclusive and candid conversations with the most influential disruptors in Washington. Subscribe here! 'I get along well enough with Elon,' Duffy began. 'He has a number of equities that come through DOT,' referring to Musk's SpaceX and Tesla companies. However, Duffy emphasized that 'Elon — or no one else — is the Secretary. I am. The Senate confirmed me.' 4 Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told 'Pod Force One' that he took issue with Elon Musk's push to cut the headcount at his department. Ron Sachs – CNP for NY Post 'I think it might not have been intentional, might have been ham-handed [like] some of the requests that were made by [the Department of Government Efficiency], but my position was, we are not going to fire air traffic controllers.' 'Safety critical positions are not going to be fired within the Department of Transportation. We can do things more efficiently … but we are not going to fire air controllers. And so we had a little back and forth, [but] we got along very well after that. I think the papers made it a bigger deal than it was.' Duffy told Devine the dispute with Musk took place before the Jan. 29 midair collision between a Black Hawk helicopter and a regional jet near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport which killed 67 people. 'Elon is an amazing innovator. He's creative. And again, there's a lot to learn from him, but I run this department, and again, I didn't want someone on the outside trying to tell me to fire people,' the secretary explained. 'Had I done that, had I actually fired controllers, oh, my—think what the liberal media would do to me. I would be slaughtered. We didn't, thank God, but [this] is why, throughout government, you have to make sure that the secretaries are the ones who are driving the policy.' 4 Elon Musk had clashed with multiple cabinet officials during his quest to shrink government bloat. AP 4 Duffy told The Post's Miranda Devine that he drew a red line over Musk cutting 'safety critical positions' like air traffic controllers. Ron Sachs – CNP for NY Post 4 Duffy praised Musk as an 'amazing innovator' — but stressed that he alone makes decisions about his department. Ron Sachs – CNP for NY Post Up until the end of May, Musk was the driving force behind the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a cost-cutting initiative across the federal bureaucracy. During that time, Musk clashed with numerous cabinet officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, with former Trump White House strategist Steve Bannon claiming last month that Musk shoulder-checked Bessent 'like a rugby player.' Full Episode In early June, Musk and Trump had an epic falling-out over the One Big Beautiful Bill Act with the South Africa-born billionaire warning the legislation was 'utterly insane and destructive.' The space and electric car guru had been incensed that the megabill was projected to dramatically increase the national deficit, venting that it 'undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing.' 'I don't know if Elon was concerned about being able to access critical minerals from China, and if he was angry at the president for going after China and putting tariffs on China that can affect the critical minerals that he makes batteries with. I don't know if it was EV subsidies,' Duffy mused. 'I don't know what happened internally, but I would tell you this, the president couldn't be more generous and couldn't have been nicer to him.'
New York Post
14 hours ago
- New York Post
Sean Duffy details $31.5B air-traffic improvements to 'Pod Force One'
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says he is optimistic a 'brand new system' for air-traffic control can be implemented in the next four years, previewing plans for the $31.5 billion fix on 'Pod Force One.' Duffy and other top officials have pressed for the pricey upgrade in the wake of the deadly midair disaster near Ronald Reagan National Airport earlier this year — the first major passenger crash in the US since 2009. 'There were 85 near-misses in this airspace in the three years before this crash,' Duffy recently told podcast hose Miranda Devine. 'So someone should have seen it in the last administration. They didn't. Tragedy struck.' Advertisement 4 Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy tells 'Pod Force One' that he is optimistic the Trump administration will be able to upgrade the air traffic control system within the next four years. Ron Sachs – CNP for NY Post Every week, Post columnist Miranda Devine sits down for exclusive and candid conversations with the most influential disruptors in Washington. Subscribe here! Last month, Congress approved $12.5 billion of the estimated $31.5 billion price tag needed to complete the ambitious overhaul of the country's dated air-traffic-control system. Advertisement Officials have been reviewing other major airports across the country in New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Alaska and elsewhere to make improvements based on lessons learned from the DC fiasco, Duffy said. 4 Duffy notes to host Miranda Devine that modernizing air traffic control in the US is a complicated undertaking. Ron Sachs – CNP for NY Post Sixty-seven people died when one of the government's Black Hawk helicopters collided with an American Airlines passenger jet over the Potomac River in DC in January. No official cause for the disaster has been released, but experts have suggested issues ranging from poor air-control staffing to the fact that the chopper pilots' night-vision goggles would have hampered their vision. Advertisement 'What we've seen is there is a need to upgrade our system. It is way too old, and that doesn't mean it's not safe, but what we see is, you're starting to see the cracks in the system,' he said. 'You're starting to see blips in communication. 'I would tell you it's not easy, it's really complicated,' he said. 'I think we can get it done in three, four years, if all goes well.' 4 A total of 67 people were killed at Reagan National Airport during the tragic midair collision in January. Getty Images A key aspect of the upgrades will be to switch from copper to fiber optic cables for communications systems within air traffic control. Advertisement This emerged as a major problem at New Jersey's troubled Newark Liberty International Airport, which was dogged by outages earlier this year that led to massive delays and prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to scale down flights at the major travel hub. Earlier this year, Newark faced about 90 seconds of radar and communications blackouts, which officials later attributed to a fried piece of copper wire that caused a blizzard of flight delays and cancellations. Before that fiasco, the team of former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg moved the Newark airspace control system from New York to the Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON). That move was intended to alleviate staffing issues. 4 January's collision led to a push to modernize air-traffic-control systems across the country. AP 'The problem was, though, that they didn't test the lines,' Duffy said. 'They didn't make sure it was hardened before they made the move, which led us to these several 30-second outages.' While the outage at TRACON was 30 seconds, the full blackout was closer to 90 seconds because scopes showing the airplanes had to reboot, costing another minute. 'We have policies in place if that happens on what redundancies kick in, and we did that,' Duffy said, noting that Newark's communications lines have since been upgraded. 'We partnered with Verizon. In a month, they laid a brand new fiber line for us. We tested it the next month, and that has stood up.' Full Episode Advertisement Now the Transportation Department is looking to make some of those same upgrades to airports across the country and beef up outdated radar systems as well. But perhaps the more critical upgrade in the works at air traffic control is a new software system, which Duffy says will make it more 'efficient, make it safer, to control airspace.' Advertisement He teased that the 'brand-new' software system will likely be 'leaps and bounds' better than the current, dated process and can help with new challenges with emergency technology such as drones that are making airspace more crowded. 'The operating system that we use to control air traffic one dates back to '95,' Duffy stressed. 'So it's really, really old.' Duffy described his plans for the new software system as 'a common automation platform that's going to help us have new technology, make it more efficient, make it safer, to control airspace.'
