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Yahoo
11-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
In wake of deadly D.C. helicopter crash, NTSB urges changes to address 'intolerable safety risk'
March 11 (UPI) -- Current airport flight safety practices create an "intolerable safety risk" that could be eliminated by changing allowed separation distances between helicopters and airplanes, federal officials say. Insufficient lateral distance regulations and the route used by a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter created a safety risk that contributed to the deadly midair collision that killed 67 near Ronald Reagan Washington [D.C.] National Airport on Jan. 29, National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy told media on Tuesday. "The existing separation distances are insufficient and pose an intolerable risk to aviation safety," Homendy said. "There's a safety risk here and they [FAA] need to take immediate action." Homendy outlined two actions for the FAA to immediately impose at all airports. One is to impose lateral boundaries between airplanes and helicopters for helicopter routes that are near airports and require automated warnings to prevent collisions. The other recommendation is to change the standard route used by the helicopter between Hains Point, Md., and the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge over the Potomac River near the Washington, D.C., airport or order the helicopter to hold in place whenever a plane is using runways 15 or 33. NTSB investigators studied airport data regarding near-misses between airplanes and helicopters from 2011 through 2024 and determined the "vast majority" occurred while a plane was attempting to land at the airport, Homendy said. Additional data from October 2021 through December show 15,214 "occurrences" between planes and helicopters at the Washington, D.C., airport among 944,179 commercial flights, she said. Those occurrences are defined by instances in which airplanes and helicopters were within 1 nautical mile of each other and separated by less than 400 feet in vertical distance. Homendy said the airport recorded at least one close call every month, including 85 instances where airplanes and helicopters were separated by less than 1,500 feet laterally and less than 200 feet vertically. The danger posed to air travel exists at virtually every airport and not just the Washington, D.C., airport, which prompted the NTSB to urge the FAA to immediately adopt the two safety recommendations. "It's an intolerable risk to aviation safety. We have called on the DOT and FAA to take action," Homendy said. "It shouldn't take a tragedy like this to occur," she added. "Clearly, one did." Homendy said the NTSB is continuing to investigate the probable cause of the deadly midair collision between American Airlines Flight 5342 and the U.S Army helicopter. The crash occurred when an American Airlines-owned PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet carrying 64 passengers and crew and a U.S. Army Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter carrying three crew members collided over the Potomac River at 8:47 p.m. EST on Jan. 29. The airliner was attempting to land on Runway 33 after its earlier departure from Wichita, Kan. Homendy said the standard route used by the helicopter's crew during a nighttime training mission only provided 75 feet of vertical distance between the two aircraft, which she said it too close. "There's a serious safety issue here," Homendy said, adding that the FAA needs to take "immediate action" to eliminate that risk at the Washington, D.C., airport and all others. Homendy said the data has been in place for some time prior to the deadly collision and should have been reviewed to identify the danger and corrective action taken to prevent it. "It's stronger than an oversight," Homendy said in response to a reporter's question. "They could have used that data at any time. That didn't occur." NTSB officials also have suggested the helicopter crew received bad altimeter data that indicated 400 feet for one pilot and 300 feet for the other. All bodies and both aircraft were recovered from the river, and the NTSB transported the salvaged pieces of aircraft to an undisclosed location for further examination.
Yahoo
11-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
D.C. midair crash update: Potomac River opens as salvage operations end early
Feb. 11 (UPI) -- The Potomac River is open again after federal recovery teams concluded their salvage operations following the deadly collision between a commercial airliner and a U.S. Army helicopter on Jan. 29. Officials for the unified command consisting of the Army Corps of Engineers Baltimore District, U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Navy's Supervisor of Salvage and Diving on Tuesday announced the completion of the recovery effort on Tuesday and six days sooner than expected. "With wreckage removal and demobilization behind us, the Potomac is once again safe for navigation," said USACE Baltimore District Commander Col. Francis Pera. "It is our hope that this helps provide the region a small sense of normalcy following this tragic event." Dive operations on Monday confirmed all major components from the two aircraft were recovered. "We are proud of the unified efforts and partnerships that endured through this response and helped make this mission successful," Pera said of the recovery effort. "Each day, we thought of those who lost their lives, their loved ones and the many incident responders impacted by this tragic event." The midair collision on the evening of Jan. 29 killed all 64 passengers and crew on American Airlines-owned American Eagle Flight 5342 and all three soldiers aboard the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter. The airliner was attempting to land at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington County, Va., while the crew aboard the Army helicopter were training for nighttime operations when they collided at a low altitude over the Potomac River. Salvage crews recovered all bodies on Feb. 4 and the last large pieces of wreckage on Thursday. All wreckage removed from the crash site was transported to a secure location to be laid out and examined by the National Transportation Safety Board that is investigating the accident and will determine if changes are needed to prevent similar deadly collisions. Some small pieces of either aircraft might be found in the Potomac or Anacostia rivers or along their shorelines. Anyone who might come across such items immediately should call 911 to report them and not touch or remove any items, according to the USACE.
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Remaining large wreckage removed from the Potomac River from midair collision
Feb. 6 (UPI) -- Salvage crews have recovered the last large pieces of aircraft wreckage from the Potomac River on Thursday and are focusing on collecting small pieces from the crash site where 67 died. "Thanks to the exhaustive efforts of Unified Command personnel, we were able to safely remove all major wreckage components of both the jet and helicopter from the Potomac in four days while simultaneously aiding recovery efforts to reunite families who are mourning the tremendous loss of their loved ones," USACE Baltimore District Commander Col. Francis Pera announced Thursday in a news release shared with UPI. Personnel with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Baltimore District, the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Navy's Supervisor of Salvage and Diving participated in the salvage operations to recover the wreckage of the American Airlines-owned American Eagle Flight 5342 airliner and the U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter that collided on the evening of Jan. 29. The Bombardier CRJ700 airliner carried 64 passengers and crew while the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter carried three soldiers who were on a nighttime training mission when the collision occurred over the Potomac River and left no survivors. The salvage crews completed recovery of all 67 bodies in the Potomac River on Tuesday and have been focused on recovering the remains of the airliner and helicopter. The large pieces that have been removed are being transported by truck to a secure location where National Transportation Safety Board investigators can lay out the respective pieces of each aircraft for further inspection. The salvage crews on Tuesday recovered the last remaining large pieces of the airliner and focused efforts on recovering the large pieces of the helicopter, where were removed today. They now are focused on recovering smaller pieces from the remaining debris field after recovering the last large pieces of the helicopter. "We will continue pushing forward in the coming days until we are confident the river is safe for navigation and that elements of evidentiary value are recovered and provided to the appropriate authorities," Pera said.
