Latest news with #DaileyCrafton
CNN
01-04-2025
- General
- CNN
‘Something was missed' at Reagan National Airport. What experts have to say about one of the country's busiest airports
Summary Reagan National Airport faces safety concerns following a fatal collision between a jetliner and helicopter in January. The National Transportation Safety Board uncovered over 15,000 near-miss events at the airport since 2021. Pilots and experts criticize the airport's management of helicopter traffic in its restricted airspace. Recent incidents include collision warnings, a controller's arrest, and military jets causing another close call. The airport's main runway, one of America's busiest with over 800 daily takeoffs and landings, struggles with congestion. When senators grilled the Federal Aviation Administration last week about how the agency could have let the high number of close calls between helicopters and commercial jetliners occur at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, the acting head of the FAA replied, 'Something was missed.' That thought came 'too little, too late,' according to Dailey Crafton, who was in attendance. In January, his brother was among 67 people killed when an American Airlines regional jet landing at the airport collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River. The National Transportation Safety Board later uncovered 15,214 'near miss events' at the airport between 2021 and 2024, where aircraft were within one nautical mile of each other, with a vertical separation of less than 400 feet. There were also 85 cases where aircraft were much closer - less than 1,500 feet apart, with a vertical separation of less than 200 feet, according to the NTSB. 'There were a number of reports that came in, and we investigate every single near midair collision,' said Chris Rocheleau, acting FAA administrator in the hearing on the collision. 'We have teams that go out and assess the airspace itself.' The 'overburdened' Reagan National Airport, which sits on a total of 860 acres, has long been one of the nation's busiest airports, according to the Coalition to Protect America's Regional Airports. It served 25.5 million passengers in 2023, more than its much larger counterpart Dulles International Airport, which served 25.1 million. Reagan National Airport's main runway is the busiest runway in the country, with over 800 daily takeoffs and landings, according to the Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority. The airport has 58 total gates and three runways. It's increasingly complicated by restricted airspace and government buildings. The White House is about two miles from the end of a runway, which forces planes to fly curved approaches and departures. 'They could've resolved this years ago,' said Allen Campbell, who flew with Delta Air Lines and the military for nearly 40 years. 'If you think of most of the major airports in America, Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami – you're not going to get helicopters flying within five miles of that airport without some really significant clearance. So, Ronald Reagan, I think, has just abused that operation for years. It's hit them in the face, and I think now they're going to have to fix it.' Flying around DC, pilots are aware of all of the restrictions, Campbell said. He believes the airport is 'mismanaged.' A veteran pilot, Darrell Feller flew helicopters around the airport near the nation's capital multiple times, first when he worked for the National Guard, then with US Customs and Border Protection. He also, separately, spent time flying airplanes for Alaska Airlines. Feller recalled an incident while he was flying a helicopter south on the same route the Black Hawk was on that dreadful day in January. A commercial jet was landing on Runway 33 at Reagan Airport at the same time. 'We had a little more separation than this incident at DCA, but I could not see that airliner,' Feller said. 'It got lost in the city lights there. I couldn't see it. I knew it was there, and so I slowed down. I descended a little lower.' It made Feller 'a lot more cautious,' as a pilot. Since the collision on January 29, the NTSB issued an urgent recommendation to restrict helicopter traffic at the airport. The FAA adopted that recommendation shortly after. However, those restrictions may not be enough as the airport continues to see more safety-related issues. There hadn't been a deadly commercial air crash in the US since 2009, however, the fatal midair collision in January heightened concern about the crowded DC airport. In February, about a month after the midair collision, an American Airlines flight arriving at Reagan National Airport was forced to abort its landing to avoid another aircraft. A 'go-around' was performed to 'ensure separation was maintained between this aircraft and a preceding departure from the same runway,' the FAA told CNN. Although go-arounds are performed often, the incident heightened the attention to the airport's airspace. At the 30 US airports with the highest number of operations – a group that includes Reagan National – go-arounds accounted for about 0.39% of arrivals in fiscal year 2023, according to the FAA. Mysterious collision warnings in commercial jets landing at Reagan were also reported around March 1 and occurred only miles from the site of the January accident. Several flight crews reported the mystery alerts on their Traffic Collision Avoidance System, known as TCAS, 'indicating another aircraft was nearby when no other aircraft were in the area,' the FAA said in a statement at the time. At the hearing on the midair collision last week, the FAA confirmed these warnings were caused by testing of an anti-drone system by the US Navy and Secret Service. To add to the incidents at Reagan National Airport, an air traffic controller was arrested for assault and battery on Thursday after an 'incident' in the control tower, according to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. The 39-year-old controller was put on administrative leave while the FAA investigates, the agency told CNN. 'Apparently, the Navy was using the same spectrum band as TCAS, causing the interference and faulty resolution advisories,' Sen. Ted Cruz said during the hearing. 'Even though the FAA had previously warned the Navy and the Secret Service against using that specific spectrum band due to interference risks.' Another close call this past week has prompted investigations from both the FAA and NTSB. On Friday, collision warnings sounded inside the cockpit of a Delta Air Lines aircraft taking off from the airport when a flight of military training jets sped past. The four US Air Force T-38 Talons were inbound to Arlington National Cemetery for a flyover, the FAA said in a statement. A preliminary report on the incident will be issued within 30 days. A kite also struck a United Airlines flight from Houston to Washington Saturday. The plane was undamaged and landed safely, according to United. Law enforcement located kites flying at Gravelly Point, a park a few hundred feet away from the north end of the airport's runway. Some pilots, like Campbell, believe the airport's issues could have been resolved a lot sooner. The congestion remains an issue at Reagan National Airport, according to Phillip Ansell, an associate professor at the Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois. He said because of rapid growth air traffic nearly doubles every 15 to 20 years. Reagan National Airport also deals with a 'slot rule' created by the FAA, where take offs and landings must be scheduled in advance to reduce congestion. However, that rule has since changed. Last year, Congress approved more long-haul flights at the airport. In March, Reagan National Airport had over 26,000 flights in and out scheduled – noting the uptick for the area's highly popular cherry blossom season, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium. That's approximately over 2.7 million seats available for passengers. 'When it comes to runways at airports, we're bursting at the seams,' he said.
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘Something was missed,' at Reagan National Airport. What experts have to say about one of the country's busiest airports
When senators grilled the Federal Aviation Administration last week about how the agency could have let the high number of close calls between helicopters and commercial jetliners occur at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, the acting head of the FAA replied, 'Something was missed.' That thought came 'too little, too late,' according to Dailey Crafton, who was in attendance. In January, his brother was among 67 people killed when an American Airlines regional jet landing at the airport collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River. The National Transportation Safety Board later uncovered 15,214 'near miss events' at the airport between 2021 and 2024, where aircraft were within one nautical mile of each other, with a vertical separation of less than 400 feet. There were also 85 cases where aircraft were much closer - less than 1,500 feet apart, with a vertical separation of less than 200 feet, according to the NTSB. 'There were a number of reports that came in, and we investigate every single near midair collision,' said Chris Rocheleau, acting FAA administrator in the hearing on the collision. 'We have teams that go out and assess the airspace itself.' The 'overburdened' Reagan National Airport, which sits on a total of 860 acres, has long been one of the nation's busiest airports, according to the Coalition to Protect America's Regional Airports. It served 25.5 million passengers in 2023, more than its much larger counterpart Dulles International Airport, which served 25.1 million. Reagan National Airport's main runway is the busiest runway in the country, with over 800 daily takeoffs and landings, according to the Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority. The airport has 58 total gates and three runways. It's increasingly complicated by restricted airspace and government buildings. The White House is about two miles from the end of a runway, which forces planes to fly curved approaches and departures. 'They could've resolved this years ago,' said Allen Campbell, who flew with Delta Air Lines and the military for nearly 40 years. 'If you think of most of the major airports in America, Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami – you're not going to get helicopters flying within five miles of that airport without some really significant clearance. So, Ronald Reagan, I think, has just abused that operation for years. It's hit them in the face, and I think now they're going to have to fix it.' Flying around DC, pilots are aware of all of the restrictions, Campbell said. He believes the airport is 'mismanaged.' A veteran pilot, Darrell Feller flew helicopters around the airport near the nation's capital multiple times, first when he worked for the National Guard, then with US Customs and Border Protection. He also, separately, spent time flying airplanes for Alaska Airlines. Feller recalled an incident while he was flying a helicopter south on the same route the Black Hawk was on that dreadful day in January. A commercial jet was landing on Runway 33 at Reagan Airport at the same time. 'We had a little more separation than this incident at DCA, but I could not see that airliner,' Feller said. 'It got lost in the city lights there. I couldn't see it. I knew it was there, and so I slowed down. I descended a little lower.' It made Feller 'a lot more cautious,' as a pilot. Since the collision on January 29, the NTSB issued an urgent recommendation to restrict helicopter traffic at the airport. The FAA adopted that recommendation shortly after. However, those restrictions may not be enough as the airport continues to see more safety-related issues. There hadn't been a deadly commercial air crash in the US since 2009, however, the fatal midair collision in January heightened concern about the crowded DC airport. In February, about a month after the midair collision, an American Airlines flight arriving at Reagan National Airport was forced to abort its landing to avoid another aircraft. A 'go-around' was performed to 'ensure separation was maintained between this aircraft and a preceding departure from the same runway,' the FAA told CNN. Although go-arounds are performed often, the incident heightened the attention to the airport's airspace. At the 30 US airports with the highest number of operations – a group that includes Reagan National – go-arounds accounted for about 0.39% of arrivals in fiscal year 2023, according to the FAA. Mysterious collision warnings in commercial jets landing at Reagan were also reported around March 1 and occurred only miles from the site of the January accident. Several flight crews reported the mystery alerts on their Traffic Collision Avoidance System, known as TCAS, 'indicating another aircraft was nearby when no other aircraft were in the area,' the FAA said in a statement at the time. At the hearing on the midair collision last week, the FAA confirmed these warnings were caused by testing of an anti-drone system by the US Navy and Secret Service. To add to the incidents at Reagan National Airport, an air traffic controller was arrested for assault and battery on Thursday after an 'incident' in the control tower, according to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. The 39-year-old controller was put on administrative leave while the FAA investigates, the agency told CNN. 'Apparently, the Navy was using the same spectrum band as TCAS, causing the interference and faulty resolution advisories,' Sen. Ted Cruz said during the hearing. 'Even though the FAA had previously warned the Navy and the Secret Service against using that specific spectrum band due to interference risks.' Another close call this past week has prompted investigations from both the FAA and NTSB. On Friday, collision warnings sounded inside the cockpit of a Delta Air Lines aircraft taking off from the airport when a flight of military training jets sped past. The four US Air Force T-38 Talons were inbound to Arlington National Cemetery for a flyover, the FAA said in a statement. A preliminary report on the incident will be issued within 30 days. A kite also struck a United Airlines flight from Houston to Washington Saturday. The plane was undamaged and landed safely, according to United. Law enforcement located kites flying at Gravelly Point, a park a few hundred feet away from the north end of the airport's runway. Some pilots, like Campbell, believe the airport's issues could have been resolved a lot sooner. The congestion remains an issue at Reagan National Airport, according to Phillip Ansell, an associate professor at the Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois. He said because of rapid growth air traffic nearly doubles every 15 to 20 years. Reagan National Airport also deals with a 'slot rule' created by the FAA, where take offs and landings must be scheduled in advance to reduce congestion . However, that rule has since changed. Last year, Congress approved more long-haul flights at the airport. In March, Reagan National Airport had over 26,000 flights in and out scheduled – noting the uptick for the area's highly popular cherry blossom season, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium. That's approximately over 2.7 million seats available for passengers. 'When it comes to runways at airports, we're bursting at the seams,' he said.
CNN
01-04-2025
- Politics
- CNN
'Something was missed,' at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Here's what experts have to say about one of the country's busiest airports
When senators grilled the Federal Aviation Administration last week about how the agency could have let the high number of close calls between a helicopter and commercial jetliner occur at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, the acting head of the FAA replied, 'Something was missed.' That thought came 'too little, too late,' according to Dailey Crafton, who was in attendance. In January, his brother was among 67 people killed when an American Airlines regional jet landing at the airport collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River. The National Transportation Safety Board later uncovered 15,214 'near miss events' at the airport between 2021 and 2024, where aircraft were within one nautical mile of each other, with a vertical separation of less than 400 feet. There were also 85 cases where aircraft were much closer - less than 1,500 feet apart, with a vertical separation of less than 200 feet, according to the NTSB. 'There were a number of reports that came in, and we investigate every single near midair collision,' said Chris Rocheleau, acting FAA administrator in the hearing on the collision. 'We have teams that go out and assess the airspace itself.' The 'overburdened' Reagan National Airport, which sits on a total of 860 acres, has long been one of the nation's busiest airports, according to the Coalition to Protect America's Regional Airports. It served 25.5 million passengers in 2023, more than its much larger counterpart Dulles International Airport, which served 25.1 million. Reagan National Airport's main runway is the busiest runway in the country, with over 800 daily takeoffs and landings, according to the Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority. The airport has 58 total gates and three runways. It's increasingly complicated by restricted airspace and government buildings. The White House is about two miles from the end of a runway, which forces planes to fly curved approaches and departures. 'They could've resolved this years ago,' said Allen Campbell, who flew with Delta Air Lines and the military for nearly 40 years. 'If you think of most of the major airports in America, Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami – you're not going to get helicopters flying within five miles of that airport without some really significant clearance. So, Ronald Reagan, I think, has just abused that operation for years. It's hit them in the face, and I think now they're going to have to fix it.' Flying around DC, pilots are aware of all of the restrictions, Campbell said. He believes the airport is 'mismanaged.' A veteran pilot, Darrell Feller flew helicopters around the airport near the nation's capital multiple times, first when he worked for the National Guard, then with US Customs and Border Protection. He also, separately, spent time flying airplanes for Alaska Airlines. Feller recalled an incident while he was flying a helicopter south on the same route the Black Hawk was on that dreadful day in January. A commercial jet was landing on Runway 33 at Reagan Airport at the same time. 'We had a little more separation than this incident at DCA, but I could not see that airliner,' Feller said. 'It got lost in the city lights there. I couldn't see it. I knew it was there, and so I slowed down. I descended a little lower.' It made Feller 'a lot more cautious,' as a pilot. Since the collision on January 29, the NTSB issued an urgent recommendation to restrict helicopter traffic at the airport. The FAA adopted that recommendation shortly after. However, those restrictions may not be enough as the airport continues to see more safety-related issues. There hadn't been a deadly commercial air crash in the US since 2009, however, the fatal midair collision in January heightened concern about the crowded DC airport. In February, about a month after the midair collision, an American Airlines flight arriving at Reagan National Airport was forced to abort its landing to avoid another aircraft. A 'go-around' was performed to 'ensure separation was maintained between this aircraft and a preceding departure from the same runway,' the FAA told CNN. Although go-arounds are performed often, the incident heightened the attention to the airport's airspace. At the 30 US airports with the highest number of operations – a group that includes Reagan National – go-arounds accounted for about 0.39% of arrivals in fiscal year 2023, according to the FAA. Mysterious collision warnings in commercial jets landing at Reagan were also reported around March 1 and occurred only miles from the site of the January accident. Several flight crews reported the mystery alerts on their Traffic Collision Avoidance System, known as TCAS, 'indicating another aircraft was nearby when no other aircraft were in the area,' the FAA said in a statement at the time. At the hearing on the midair collision last week, the FAA confirmed these warnings were caused by testing of an anti-drone system by the US Navy and Secret Service. 'Apparently, the Navy was using the same spectrum band as TCAS, causing the interference and faulty resolution advisories,' Sen. Ted Cruz said during the hearing. 'Even though the FAA had previously warned the Navy and the Secret Service against using that specific spectrum band due to interference risks.' Another close call this past week has prompted investigations from both the FAA and NTSB. On Friday, collision warnings sounded inside the cockpit of a Delta Air Lines aircraft taking off from the airport when a flight of military training jets sped past. The four US Air Force T-38 Talons were inbound to Arlington National Cemetery for a flyover, the FAA said in a statement. A preliminary report on the incident will be issued within 30 days. A kite also struck a United Airlines flight from Houston to Washington Saturday. The plane was undamaged and landed safely, according to United. Law enforcement located kites flying at Gravelly Point, a park a few hundred feet away from the north end of the airport's runway. Some pilots, like Campbell, believe the airport's issues could have been resolved a lot sooner. The congestion remains an issue at Reagan National Airport, according to Phillip Ansell, an associate professor at the Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois. He said because of rapid growth air traffic nearly doubles every 15 to 20 years. Reagan National Airport also deals with a 'slot rule' created by the FAA, where take offs and landings must be scheduled in advance to reduce congestion. However, that rule has since changed. Last year, Congress approved more long-haul flights at the airport. In March, Reagan National Airport had over 26,000 flights in and out scheduled – noting the uptick for the area's highly popular cherry blossom season, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium. That's approximately over 2.7 million seats available for passengers. 'When it comes to runways at airports, we're bursting at the seams,' he said.
CNN
27-03-2025
- Politics
- CNN
US Army and FAA in the hot seat publicly for the first time since January's fatal midair collision
Family members of some of the 67 people killed in January's midair collision in Washington listened to the US Army and Federal Aviation Administration take fiery questions from lawmakers for the first time Thursday at a Senate subcommittee hearing on the preliminary findings of the accident. 'I'm glad that something's being done about it now,' said Dailey Crafton, whose brother, Casey, was killed. 'But you know, it's too little, too late for those of us who had family members on that plane.' The Senate hearing came two weeks after the National Transportation Safety Board, whose chair also testified Thursday, unveiled its preliminary report on the fatal collision between the American Airlines regional jet and an Army Blackhawk helicopter at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. It was the first major aviation accident in the United States in nearly 20 years. The NTSB issued two urgent safety recommendations with the report, which the FAA adopted rapidly. '(The FAA and Army) have been very cooperative with our investigation,' NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy told reporters following the hearing. 'We're working closely. It's a pretty broad investigation. It's a very complex investigation.' Previously, investigators uncovered 15,214 'near miss events' between 2021 and 2024 where aircraft were within one nautical mile of each other, with a vertical separation of less than 400 feet. There were also 85 cases where aircraft were less than 1,500 feet apart, with a vertical separation of less than 200 feet, according to the NTSB. The findings revealed a 'systemic issue,' that lawmakers are demanding answers on, said Sen. Maria Cantwell, ranking member of the Senate's Commerce, Science and Transportation committee. 'I want to know, why did the FAA not act?,' Cantwell said. 'Why did the FAA not act on 15,000 reports of dangerous proximity? How were these helicopter routes allowed to remain when alarm bells were literally going off in the towers?' FAA Acting Administrator Chris Rocheleau responded he was 'very concerned' about what's been learned so far. 'Clearly something was missed,' he said. The FAA acted following the release of the report to adopt NTSB recommendations to close the flight path the helicopter was using at the time of the collision. Following the hearing, CNN's Pete Muntean questioned Homendy on whether allowing the route to exist was a failure of oversight by the FAA. 'I wouldn't just put that on the FAA,' Homendy said. 'I'd also put that on the Army. The Army also has to monitor their own helicopters. They also have to figure out a way to monitor close proximity events and get that information and determine when their helicopters are exceeding maximum altitude.' Among those in the crowd was Tim Lilley, father of Sam Lilley, the first officer who was killed while flying the PSA Airlines flight on January 29. Tim flew Black Hawk helicopters for the US Army for 20 years and flew the helicopter routes 'hundreds of times,' but never had an aircraft on approach when flying. 'It's apparent that the administration gets it,' Lilley said. 'They're acting. They're acting quickly … The army, they need to take that same action. There are things that could be done and could have been done already in the last two months that still need to get done.' 'I think that my son's legacy is to get some things done to make sure that this doesn't happen again,' Lilley said. American Airlines said in a statement it continues to 'mourn the lives lost in the traffic accident.' 'We're grateful for the NTSB's urgent safety recommendations to restrict helicopter traffic near DCA and for Secretary Duffy and the FAA's quick adoption of those recommendations,' the statement read. 'We will continue to coordinate closely with PSA Airlines as it cooperates with the NTSB as a party to the investigation.' Among the testimony came a commitment from the FAA that the agency will require nearly all aircraft near Reagan Airport to use an automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast out system, known as ADS-B. 'All aircraft operating in DCA class B airspace will be required to broadcast their position and identification using ADS-B Out with very limited exceptions,' Rocheleau testified. Civilian and military aircraft use ADS-B, which helps an aircraft broadcast its location, altitude and other key factors while monitoring other aircraft around it. But the Army often turned it off while flying on missions in Washington. The NTSB previously confirmed the helicopter had the necessary equipment and was capable of transmitting, but investigators are still unclear why it was not transmitting. Brig. General Matthew Braman also testified during the hearing the status of the operation and functionality of the helicopter's ADS-B Out was still under investigation, but said the crew was approved to operate with ADS-B Out off, in accordance with Army policy. Lawmakers also grilled the Army for still flying training missions after the crash near Reagan Airport with the technology turned off. 'I find that shocking and deeply unacceptable and I want to encourage the Army right now to revisit that policy and to revisit that policy today,' Sen. Ted Cruz said at Thursday's Senate subcommittee hearing. The Army, however, often turns ADS-B off when flying around Washington DC – including when in the airspace around DCA, the Army acknowledged. Cruz also pushed for the Army to hand over a memo from August entitled, 'ADS-B Out off Operations in the National Airspace,' stating the Army hadn't given him the memo when his staff asked, but Braman wouldn't commit to providing it. 'If it is not provided to this committee within 24 hours, I am confident that you will have a senior commanding officer give you a direct order to provide that memo to this committee,' Cruz said. 'I just want to underscore; there's no reason the Army has to wait for the conclusion of the NTSB report to revisit your policy on ADS-B out. You can do so right now.' Rocheleau also said the FAA is reviewing helicopter operations with machine learning and language modeling to scan incident reports and explore data sources. 'We're also continuing to analyze other airports that have both established helicopter routes and nearby airplane traffic,' he said. 'I will establish a safety risk management panel and engage with aviation stakeholders to identify additional hazard areas involving helicopter and fixed wing interactions.' Homendy told reporters the data will show 'the next big accident.' When asked whether she was confident in machine learning and artificial intelligence, Homendy said, 'We'll see.' The FAA also confirmed Thursday that collision warnings in commercial planes landing earlier this month at Reagan Airport were caused by testing of anti-drone system by the US Navy and Secret Service. The mysterious warnings were reported around March 1 and occurred only miles from the site of the January accident. 'We were about 1200 feet, there was somebody diving straight onto us,' one of the pilots who got the warning told control tower at the time, according to audio captured by Several flight crews reported the mystery alerts on their Traffic Collision Avoidance System, known as TCAS, 'indicating another aircraft was nearby when no other aircraft were in the area,' the FAA said in a statement at the time. 'Apparently, the Navy was using the same spectrum band as TCAS, causing the interference and faulty resolution advisories,' Cruz told the FAA during the hearing. 'Even though the FAA had previously warned the Navy and the Secret Service against using that specific spectrum band due to interference risks.' 'Yes, sir, that's correct,' Rocheleau responded. 'This is deeply disturbing that just a month after 67 people died while an approach to DCA that the Secret Service and Pentagon would inadvertently cause multiple flights to receive urgent cockpit alerts recommending evasive action,' Cruz said. 'It is inappropriate for such testing to occur at DCA, given the facts of what occurred.' As for the family members of the 67 people killed in January's mid-air collision, this investigation hasn't gotten any easier. Lilley told reporters he wants answers and action. 'The hardest day of my life was the 29th,' Lilley said. 'The second-hardest day was the day after that, when the NTSB told us about our loved ones spread across the ice. What keeps us moving forward is that we're going to ensure that no other family has to go through what we're what we've had to go through.' CNN's Pete Muntean and Aaron Cooper contributed to this report.
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
US Army and FAA in the hot seat publicly for the first time since January's fatal midair collision
Family members of some of the 67 people killed in January's midair collision in Washington listened to the US Army and Federal Aviation Administration take fiery questions from lawmakers for the first time Thursday at a Senate subcommittee hearing on the preliminary findings of the accident. 'I'm glad that something's being done about it now,' said Dailey Crafton, whose brother, Casey, was killed. 'But you know, it's too little, too late for those of us who had family members on that plane.' The Senate hearing came two weeks after the National Transportation Safety Board, whose chair also testified Thursday, unveiled its preliminary report on the fatal collision between the American Airlines regional jet and an Army Blackhawk helicopter at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. It was the first major aviation accident in the United States in nearly 20 years. The NTSB issued two urgent safety recommendations with the report, which the FAA adopted rapidly. '(The FAA and Army) have been very cooperative with our investigation,' NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy told reporters following the hearing. 'We're working closely. It's a pretty broad investigation. It's a very complex investigation.' Previously, investigators uncovered 15,214 'near miss events' between 2021 and 2024 where aircraft were within one nautical mile of each other, with a vertical separation of less than 400 feet. There were also 85 cases where aircraft were less than 1,500 feet apart, with a vertical separation of less than 200 feet, according to the NTSB. The findings revealed a 'systemic issue,' that lawmakers are demanding answers on, said Sen. Maria Cantwell, ranking member of the Senate's Commerce, Science and Transportation committee. 'I want to know, why did the FAA not act?,' Cantwell said. 'Why did the FAA not act on 15,000 reports of dangerous proximity? How were these helicopter routes allowed to remain when alarm bells were literally going off in the towers?' FAA Acting Administrator Chris Rocheleau responded he was 'very concerned' about what's been learned so far. 'Clearly something was missed,' he said. The FAA acted following the release of the report to adopt NTSB recommendations to close the flight path the helicopter was using at the time of the collision. Following the hearing, CNN's Pete Muntean questioned Homendy on whether allowing the route to exist was a failure of oversight by the FAA. 'I wouldn't just put that on the FAA,' Homendy said. 'I'd also put that on the Army. The Army also has to monitor their own helicopters. They also have to figure out a way to monitor close proximity events and get that information and determine when their helicopters are exceeding maximum altitude.' Among those in the crowd was Tim Lilley, father of Sam Lilley, the first officer who was killed while flying the PSA Airlines flight on January 29. Tim flew Black Hawk helicopters for the US Army for 20 years and flew the helicopter routes 'hundreds of times,' but never had an aircraft on approach when flying. 'It's apparent that the administration gets it,' Lilley said. 'They're acting. They're acting quickly … The army, they need to take that same action. There are things that could be done and could have been done already in the last two months that still need to get done.' 'I think that my son's legacy is to get some things done to make sure that this doesn't happen again,' Lilley said. American Airlines said in a statement it continues to 'mourn the lives lost in the traffic accident.' 'We're grateful for the NTSB's urgent safety recommendations to restrict helicopter traffic near DCA and for Secretary Duffy and the FAA's quick adoption of those recommendations,' the statement read. 'We will continue to coordinate closely with PSA Airlines as it cooperates with the NTSB as a party to the investigation.' Among the testimony came a commitment from the FAA that the agency will require nearly all aircraft near Reagan Airport to use an automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast out system, known as ADS-B. 'All aircraft operating in DCA class B airspace will be required to broadcast their position and identification using ADS-B Out with very limited exceptions,' Rocheleau testified. Civilian and military aircraft use ADS-B, which helps an aircraft broadcast its location, altitude and other key factors while monitoring other aircraft around it. But the Army often turned it off while flying on missions in Washington. The NTSB previously confirmed the helicopter had the necessary equipment and was capable of transmitting, but investigators are still unclear why it was not transmitting. Brig. General Matthew Braman also testified during the hearing the status of the operation and functionality of the helicopter's ADS-B Out was still under investigation, but said the crew was approved to operate with ADS-B Out off, in accordance with Army policy. Lawmakers also grilled the Army for still flying training missions after the crash near Reagan Airport with the technology turned off. 'I find that shocking and deeply unacceptable and I want to encourage the Army right now to revisit that policy and to revisit that policy today,' Sen. Ted Cruz said at Thursday's Senate subcommittee hearing. The Army, however, often turns ADS-B off when flying around Washington DC – including when in the airspace around DCA, the Army acknowledged. Cruz also pushed for the Army to hand over a memo from August entitled, 'ADS-B Out off Operations in the National Airspace,' stating the Army hadn't given him the memo when his staff asked, but Braman wouldn't commit to providing it. 'If it is not provided to this committee within 24 hours, I am confident that you will have a senior commanding officer give you a direct order to provide that memo to this committee,' Cruz said. 'I just want to underscore; there's no reason the Army has to wait for the conclusion of the NTSB report to revisit your policy on ADS-B out. You can do so right now.' Rocheleau also said the FAA is reviewing helicopter operations with machine learning and language modeling to scan incident reports and explore data sources. 'We're also continuing to analyze other airports that have both established helicopter routes and nearby airplane traffic,' he said. 'I will establish a safety risk management panel and engage with aviation stakeholders to identify additional hazard areas involving helicopter and fixed wing interactions.' Homendy told reporters the data will show 'the next big accident.' When asked whether she was confident in machine learning and artificial intelligence, Homendy said, 'We'll see.' The FAA also confirmed Thursday that collision warnings in commercial planes landing earlier this month at Reagan Airport were caused by testing of anti-drone system by the US Navy and Secret Service. The mysterious warnings were reported around March 1 and occurred only miles from the site of the January accident. 'We were about 1200 feet, there was somebody diving straight onto us,' one of the pilots who got the warning told control tower at the time, according to audio captured by Several flight crews reported the mystery alerts on their Traffic Collision Avoidance System, known as TCAS, 'indicating another aircraft was nearby when no other aircraft were in the area,' the FAA said in a statement at the time. 'Apparently, the Navy was using the same spectrum band as TCAS, causing the interference and faulty resolution advisories,' Cruz told the FAA during the hearing. 'Even though the FAA had previously warned the Navy and the Secret Service against using that specific spectrum band due to interference risks.' 'Yes, sir, that's correct,' Rocheleau responded. 'This is deeply disturbing that just a month after 67 people died while an approach to DCA that the Secret Service and Pentagon would inadvertently cause multiple flights to receive urgent cockpit alerts recommending evasive action,' Cruz said. 'It is inappropriate for such testing to occur at DCA, given the facts of what occurred.' As for the family members of the 67 people killed in January's mid-air collision, this investigation hasn't gotten any easier. Lilley told reporters he wants answers and action. 'The hardest day of my life was the 29th,' Lilley said. 'The second-hardest day was the day after that, when the NTSB told us about our loved ones spread across the ice. What keeps us moving forward is that we're going to ensure that no other family has to go through what we're what we've had to go through.' CNN's Pete Muntean and Aaron Cooper contributed to this report.
