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'Went missing for 20 seconds': US Army on Black Hawk helicopter which lost contact with air traffic, caused commercial jets to abort landings
'Went missing for 20 seconds': US Army on Black Hawk helicopter which lost contact with air traffic, caused commercial jets to abort landings

Time of India

time25-05-2025

  • General
  • Time of India

'Went missing for 20 seconds': US Army on Black Hawk helicopter which lost contact with air traffic, caused commercial jets to abort landings

A US Army Black Hawk helicopter (File) The United States Army has revealed that an army helicopter which lost contact with military air traffic as it neared the Pentagon earlier this month, was off-radar for about 20 seconds. As a result, two commercial jets, which were to land at Washington's Ronald Reagan airport, were forced to abort the landings. The antenna was set up during construction of a new control tower and has now been moved to the roof of the Pentagon," The incident occurred on May 1. "The handlers lost contact with the Black Hawk because a temporary control tower antenna was not set up in a location where it would be able to maintain contact with the helicopter as it flew low and rounded the Pentagon to land," Brigadier General Matthew Braman, the head of Army aviation, told news agency AP. "Federal air traffic controllers inside the Washington airport also didn't have a good fix on the location of the helicopter. The Black Hawk was transmitting data that should have given them its precise location. FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) officials told me in last week that the data the controllers were getting from multiple feeds and sensors was inconclusive," Braman added. In the initial reporting on the aborted landings, an FAA official suggested the Black Hawk was on a 'scenic route.' However, the US Army's data shows the crew hewed closely to its approved flight path, directly up the I-395 highway corridor, also called "Route 5." The chopper then rounded the Pentagon, home to the US Department of Defense, in Washington DC. FAA air traffic controllers at the Ronald Reagan airport subsequently aborted the landing of a Delta Air Lines Airbus A319 and a Republic Airways Embraer E170. The aborted landings adde to general unease about continued close calls between government helicopters and commercial airplanes near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport following a deadly mid-air collision in January between a passenger jet and an Army helicopter, which killed 67 people. In March, the aviation authority permanently restricted choppers from flying on the route where the collision occurred. After the May 1 incident, the US Army paused all flights into and out of the Pentagon as it works with the FAA to address safety issues.

2 Jets Aborted Landings at DC Airport After Pentagon Lost Contact With Army Helicopter
2 Jets Aborted Landings at DC Airport After Pentagon Lost Contact With Army Helicopter

Epoch Times

time24-05-2025

  • General
  • Epoch Times

2 Jets Aborted Landings at DC Airport After Pentagon Lost Contact With Army Helicopter

Military air traffic controllers lost contact with an Army Black Hawk helicopter for about 20 seconds as it approached the Pentagon on May 1, which resulted in two commercial jets aborting their landings at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, a top Army official has said. Brig. Gen. Matthew Braman, head of Army aviation, said the loss of contact occurred because a temporary control tower antenna was not positioned to maintain communication with the helicopter as it flew low and rounded the Pentagon to land. He said the antenna had been set up during construction of a new control tower and has since been moved to the Pentagon's roof to prevent a recurrence. Braman also said that federal air traffic controllers inside the airport did not have a good fix on the helicopter's location. Although the Black Hawk was transmitting data that should have given controllers its precise position, Braman said FAA officials told him that the data from multiple feeds and sensors was inconclusive, with some of it deviating by as much as three-quarters of a mile. 'It certainly led to confusion of air traffic control of where they were,' Braman said. A spokesperson for the FAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NTD News, sister media of The Epoch Times, confirming whether controllers were able to accurately locate the helicopter's location at that time. According to Braman, FAA air traffic controllers at the airport aborted the landing of a Delta Air Lines Airbus A319 during the Black Hawk's initial approach because both aircraft would have been near the Pentagon at the same time. Related Stories 5/21/2025 5/16/2025 Due to the 20-second loss of contact, the Pentagon's tower did not clear the Black Hawk to land, forcing the helicopter to circle the Pentagon a second time. During this second approach, controllers at the airport decided to abort the landing of a second jet, a Republic Airways Embraer E170, because they still did not have a confident fix on the Black Hawk's location, according to Braman. The incident has intensified concerns about the safety of the airspace around the busy Washington airport, coming just months after a midair collision in January between an Army helicopter and a passenger jet that killed 67 people. Helicopter Flights Suspended Following the incident, the Army on May 5 The suspension affects the 12th Aviation Battalion, which is responsible for evacuating top political officials in emergencies, a Department of Defense official confirmed to The Epoch Times. The FAA confirmed the incident and said it and the National Transportation Safety Board would investigate. At the time of the incident, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy criticized the Pentagon on social media. 'Unacceptable. Our helicopter restrictions around DCA are crystal clear. I'll be talking to the Department of Defense to ask why ... our rules were disregarded,' Duffy 'Safety must ALWAYS come first. We just lost 67 souls! No more helicopter rides for VIPs or unnecessary training in a congested DCA airspace full of civilians. Take a taxi or Uber—besides, most VIPs have black car service.' Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas) also said in a May 3 'I believe it's time for the FAA to act swiftly and assert control over the national airspace so the Army stops running air taxis for military officials near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport,' Cruz said. In a statement regarding the same incident, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), ranking member on the Commerce Committee, said, 'It is far past time for [Defense] Secretary [Pete] Hegseth and the FAA to give our airspace the security and safety attention it deserves.' In March, the FAA permanently closed one key route and banned the use of two smaller runways at the airport whenever helicopters conduct urgent missions or operate nearby. The Associated Press contributed to this report. From NTD News

US Army pauses helicopter flights near Washington airport after close calls
US Army pauses helicopter flights near Washington airport after close calls

Business Standard

time06-05-2025

  • General
  • Business Standard

US Army pauses helicopter flights near Washington airport after close calls

The pause comes after 67 people died in January when a passenger jet collided in midair with a Black Hawk helicopter at Reagan airport AP Washington The Army is pausing helicopter flights near a Washington airport after two commercial planes had to abort landings last week because of an Army Black Hawk helicopter that was flying to the Pentagon. The commander of the 12th Aviation Battalion directed the unit to pause helicopter flight operations around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport following Thursday's close calls, two Army officials confirmed to The Associated Press on Monday. One official said the flights have been paused since Friday. The pause comes after 67 people died in January when a passenger jet collided in midair with a Black Hawk helicopter at Reagan airport. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details that were not publicly announced. The unit is continuing to fly in the greater Washington, D.C., region. The unit had begun a return to flight within the last week, with plans to gradually increase the number of flights over the next four weeks, according to an Army document viewed by the AP. Thursday's close call involved a Delta Air Lines Airbus A319 and a Republic Airways Embraer E170, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. They were instructed by air traffic control to perform go-arounds because of a priority air transport helicopter, according to an emailed statement from the Federal Aviation Administration. The priority air transport helicopters of the 12th battalion provide transport service to top Pentagon officials. It was a Black Hawk priority air transport known as PAT25 that collided with the passenger jet in midair in January. That crash was the worst U.S. midair disaster in more than two decades. In March, the FAA announced that helicopters would be prohibited from flying in the same airspace as planes near Reagan airport. The NTSB and FAA are both investigating the latest close call with an Army helicopter. The Army said after the latest incident that the UH-60 Blackhawk was following published FAA flight routes and air traffic control from Reagan airport when it was directed by Pentagon Air Traffic Control to conduct a go-around,' overflying the Pentagon helipad in accordance with approved flight procedures. But helicopter traffic remains a concern around that busy airport. The FAA said that three flights that had been cleared for landing Sunday at Reagan were ordered to go around because a police helicopter was on an urgent mission in the area. All three flights landed safely on their second approaches. The NTSB said after the January crash that there had been an alarming number of close calls near Reagan in recent years, and the FAA should have acted sooner. Reuters first reported the pause in Army helicopter flights. In New Jersey on Monday, flight delays and cancellations persisted at Newark Liberty International Airport. The FAA attributed arriving flight delays of nearly four hours to a combination of an air traffic controller shortage and thick cloud cover. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Army pauses helicopter training flights around Pentagon after 2 disruptions to commercial flights last week
Army pauses helicopter training flights around Pentagon after 2 disruptions to commercial flights last week

Yahoo

time06-05-2025

  • Politics
  • Yahoo

Army pauses helicopter training flights around Pentagon after 2 disruptions to commercial flights last week

The Army has paused all helicopter training flights around the Pentagon near Washington after disruptions to two commercial flights last Thursday. A senior Army spokesperson confirmed the pause to Fox News on Monday, noting it was implemented pending the investigation into last week's decision by Reagan National Airport (DCA) to divert two flights after an Army helicopter on a training mission was told by the Pentagon tower to make another loop around the Pentagon before landing. At about 2:30 p.m. that day, air traffic control instructed a Delta Air Lines Airbus A319 and a Republic Airways Embraer E170 to perform "go-arounds" at DCA due to an Army Black Hawk helicopter inbound to the Pentagon Army Heliport, according to statements from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The FAA said the Black Hawk was a priority air transport helicopter. 2 Planes Do 'Go-arounds' To Avoid Military Helicopter Near Reagan National Airport The aircraft "took a scenic route around the Pentagon versus proceeding directly from the west to the heliport," prompting controllers to call for two go-arounds, Politico reported, citing an email written Friday by Chris Senn, FAA's assistant administrator for government and industry affairs. Read On The Fox News App Army officials, though, took issue with the statement from the FAA suggesting that the helicopter "took a scenic route." Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, confirmed the Black Hawk helicopter came from the same Army Aviation brigade as the helicopter involved in the deadly Jan. 29 midair collision over the Potomac River. Faa Increasing Air Traffic Control Staff, Supervisors At Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport But Army officials said the helicopter was not flying the same route. Defense officials said the helicopter last week did an overhead loop over the Pentagon at the accepted parameters set by the FAA before landing on the Pentagon helipad. There is also growing frustration at the Pentagon with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy over how the situation was handled. "Our helicopter restrictions around DCA are crystal clear," Duffy wrote on X Friday. "In addition to investigations from @NTSB and @FAANews, I'll be talking to the @DeptofDefense to ask why the hell our rules were disregarded." Black Hawk Pilot Failed To Heed Flight Instructor In Moments Before Plane Collision Over Dc: Report "Safety must ALWAYS come first. We just lost 67 souls! No more helicopter rides for VIPs or unnecessary training in a congested DCA airspace full of civilians. Take a taxi or Uber – besides most VIPs have black car service," he defense officials said they felt blindsided by Duffy's tweet, adding they wished Duffy had called and spoken with someone at the Pentagon before tweeting. No military VIPs were onboard the military training flight. Faa 'Permanently Restricting' Washington Helicopter Traffic After Fatal Midair Collision Near Dc Airport Thursday's disruptions come less than one month after the FAA increased staffing and oversight for the DCA air traffic control team. In March, the FAA announced that it would permanently restrict "nonessential" helicopter operations around the airport and eliminate helicopter and fixed-wing mixed traffic. The agency also prohibited the simultaneous use of runways 15/33 and 4/22 when helicopters that are conducting urgent missions are operating near DCA. It is unclear how the incident took place, given the new guidelines. The airport's main runway is the busiest runway in America, according to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. Fox News' Chad Pergram, Landon Mion, Grady Trimble and Alexandra Koch contributed to this article source: Army pauses helicopter training flights around Pentagon after 2 disruptions to commercial flights last week

Army pausing flights near DC after two commerical airliners had to abort landings
Army pausing flights near DC after two commerical airliners had to abort landings

Yahoo

time05-05-2025

  • Politics
  • Yahoo

Army pausing flights near DC after two commerical airliners had to abort landings

Helicopter flights near a Washington, D.C. airport have been put on pause after two commercial airliners had to abort landings to avoid colliding with an Army Black Hawk helicopter last week. All helicopter operations near the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport were halted following Thursday's two close calls, two Army officials told the Associated Press Monday. The stoppage also comes months after 64 passengers and three crew members were killed when a Black Hawk helicopter collided with a passenger jet at the same airport on January 29. The Army officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the unit is continuing to fly in the greater Washington, D.C., region. The unit had planned to gradually increase the number of flights over the next four weeks, according to an Army document viewed by AP - but now has paused them. The two close calls on Thursday unfolded as air traffic control directed a Delta Air Lines Airbus A319 and a Republic Airways Embraer E170 to conduct a 'go-around' to allow a 'priority air transport.' Both commercial airlines were forced to abort their planned landings to make way for an Army helicopter to head to the Pentagon Army Hospital, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA are investigating the latest close call. Following the deadly January crash, the FAA imposed restrictions on helicopter traffic in the area, including permanently banning non-essential helicopter operations, eliminating helicopter and fixed-wing mixed traffic and permanently closing a route along the Potomac River to helicopter traffic, among others. Exceptions are allowed for life-saving medical support, active law enforcement operations, active air defense, and presidential and vice presidential helicopter travel. It was not immediately clear whether the Black Hawk involved in Thursday's incident was operating under those guidelines. With contributions from the Associated Press.

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