FAA: Army helicopter taking ‘scenic route' near Reagan National forces two passenger jets to shift course

Yahoo

02-05-2025

An Army helicopter flying in the D.C. airspace Thursday forced two commercial passenger jets inbound to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport to perform go-around maneuvers — roughly three months after the airport was the site of the nation's worst aviation fatality in more than two decades.
The Federal Aviation Administration sent out a notice about the incidents on Friday.
Reagan National airport has been in the spotlight ever since the catastrophic crash of an Army Black Hawk helicopter and a regional passenger jet killed 67 people in January and set off a wave of investigations.
According to the email written Friday by Chris Senn, FAA's assistant administrator for government and industry affairs, obtained by POLITICO, the Army helicopter — also a Black Hawk — 'took a scenic route around the Pentagon versus proceeding directly from the west to the heliport' on Thursday, prompting controllers to call for two go-arounds.
While go-arounds are a typical maneuver for flights inbound to Reagan National given the congestion at the busy airport, Senn classified the incidents in the email as 'loss of separation' events, which are a breach of the minimum separation standards for aircraft in the same airspace.
Senn added the aircraft 'were not within the restricted mixed traffic area' of the airport, but the FAA will investigate whether the Army was in violation of its flight approvals.
A person familiar with the email, who was granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, confirmed its authenticity.
In a statement, the FAA on Friday said a 'priority transport' inbound for the Pentagon's helipad made both a Delta Air Lines flight and a Republic Airways flight perform go-arounds.
The agency said it will investigate the incident, which happened around 2:30 p.m. on Thursday.
Delta said it would cooperate with the FAA on its investigation. A spokesperson for Republic could not be reached. The National Transportation Safety Board is also investigating.
Both flights were on final approach. The closest proximity between the Delta plane and helicopter was less than a mile and 400 feet. As the Black Hawk continued flying, the proximity between the Republic flight and the helicopter then grew closer — roughly 0.4 miles and 200 feet apart, according to the email.
Separately, there was another underlying issue: Controllers didn't see the Black Hawk's tracking position in real-time on their radar screens. Senn said the helicopter's radar track 'inadvertently floated and jumped to a different location on the controller feed after being unresponsive for a couple seconds.' The jump happened when the Republic flight was 1.7 miles away from the runway.
At the time of the go-arounds, the control tower had one supervisor performing direct operational oversight, four certified professional controllers, or top-level controllers capable of performing all functions of a controller at their facility, plus one certified professional controller trainee receiving on the job training, Senn said.
The Army was broadcasting via a transponder using its Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast technology, which provides air traffic controllers with more detailed information about an aircraft's altitude, speed and location. ADS-B has come under increased scrutiny since the January crash as investigators believe the broadcast was turned off. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.
At the time of the accident in January, the Army's policy was to restrict turning on ADS-B for sensitive or classified missions with commander approval, according to Brig. Gen. Matthew Braman, who testified in March during a Senate aviation subpanel hearing into the crash. Lawmakers have called the policy inconsistent and unacceptable.
Responding to Thursday's incident, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), ranking member of the Commerce Committee, said the Black Hawk involved in Thursday's incident came from the same Army Aviation brigade as the helicopter involved in the fatal collision earlier this year.
'It is outrageous that only three months after an Army Black Hawk helicopter tragically collided with a passenger jet, the same Army brigade again flew a helicopter too close to passenger jets on final approach" at the airport, she said in a statement, and called on the Pentagon and the FAA "to give our airspace the security and safety attention it deserves."
The Army said it is aware of yesterday's incident, and referred questions to the Military District of Washington, which oversees Army operations within the nation's capital.
But in a statement in response to a New York Times report regarding the events leading up to the fatal January crash, the Army said it 'cautions against speculating about potential causes or contributing factors prior to the' NTSB completing its investigation. The probe is expected to take at least a year.
'It is irresponsible to take snippets of information and present them in a way that casts blame on any individual or group,' the Army said. 'The events of January 29th were tragic, and the Army is committed to a full and thorough investigation that will provide fact-based conclusions so we can ensure an accident such as this is never repeated.'