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This week’s fatal accident between a Black Hawk army helicopter and a passenger plane that killed 67 has raised questions about increasingly congested air traffic in the Washington region, as a travel spike matches with military flights in the area.
Commercial and military pilots have long shared an occupied air space over the country’s capital. While human error seems to be a factor in this week’s clash, questions are extended to the rules and regulations for manipulating military and civil aviation that may have contributed to the tragedy.
The plane that exploded on the Potomac River on Wednesday night had returned from Kansas to Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, an airport where flights have increased in the last decade. Last year, Congress approved a bill for the authorization of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which increased the number of flights to the National Airport by 10.
At that time, legislators raised worries, including democratic senses, Tim Kaine and Mark Warner in Virginia, who warned that national airport It was already the busiest in the country and the bill was “to play with the safety of all those who use this airport”.
“I have been very worried about this for a long time and I continue to worry -Me,” Kaine told journalists on Thursday. “I have been very, very worried about this, the very complex, commercial, military air space, the way security requires being in the country’s capital puts some important restrictions. Be something like last night” .
The congress has generally restricted non -stop flights from the National Airport outside a perimeter of 1,250 miles, leading longer flights to airports such as Washington Dulles or Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall. But over the years, Congress has continued to cut off to allow more flights outside the perimeter.
According to the latest data From the Washington Airports Metropolitan Authority, the number of flights, including the military, around the National Airport from January to November 2024 was 272,264, compared to 270,148 in the same period of 2018, a slight increase.
Brian Alexander, a aviation lawyer in Kreindler and Kreindler and a former pilot of the military helicopter, said that air traffic congestion is part of a systemic problem in the region, which he called “so unique and potentially dangerous. “.
“This is certainly what should never happen, but I also think that people have feared for a long time, because again, especially in this aerial space, it is very congested,” he said. “As many aviation safety proponents as myself have been shouting for so long.”
The accident is the deadliest in the United States in 24 years, after a North -American Airlines in November 2001 in New York killed 260 people.
It seems that several failures have contributed to the fall this week, including the underline of the Tower of the Air Traffic Controller Tower, as reports indicated that only one driver directed traffic at the time of the fall to the 21 hours on Wednesday.
But much of the care has become the helicopter of Black Hawk, which President Trump blamed to fly too high and not to maneuver off the plane when he returned to the National Airport.
“The helicopter flew above what it should have been, which is one of the reasons why this collision caused,” said White House Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, to journalists.
The accident is being investigated by the army, the National Transport Safety Board (NTSB) and the FAA, and it is likely to take months to appear a complete image. The NTSB said it may have a preliminary report within 30 days.
The Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, said on Thursday that there was a two -day break in operations with the army battalion involved in the fall in the middle of the review. The helicopter was with the Army Bravo company, the 12th Aviation Battalion, outside Davison Army Airport, in Fort Belvoir, in Virginia.
The Black Hawk made in Sikorsky, which debuted in 1979, is the main helicopter of the army. Although it has low fall rates compared to other similar aircraft, helicopters have crashed earlier, including a 2023 collision between two Black Hawks that killed nine soldiers and forced the army to address the concerns of Vol.
There are questions about why military helicopters share such congested space with commercial aircraft and if there is enough buffer room for both types of planes. But military aircraft flights seem to be quite consistent, with relatively 2024 numbers compared to 2018, according to public data.
Black Hawk was on a typical night training mission when the accident took place, making a flight along a traditionally occupied corridor.
The military has flown to the DC region for decades under the command of the joint work capital and the military district of the United States Army of Washington, established in 1921.
Within these orders, the United States Army Aviation Brigade provides flights for the army’s higher leadership, Pentagon officials, combatants and even Congressional members. They are based on the Air Camp of the Army of Davison, which was first built in 1949.
Trump’s candidate for army secretary Daniel Discoll told the Senate Armed Services Committee during his confirmation audience on Thursday that he would propose to reduce helicopter flights near the National Airport.
Hegseth said that the military’s hallway at the National Airport can often be confused at night due to “a lot of environmental light, which many things happen around Reagan.”
“There may be in -depth perception problems,” Fox News told Friday, but he also questioned the role of military pilots. “Who was talking, who was in the communications, who rilled? And then, what if there was confusion in the end?”
Questions are also kept around Black Hawk’s flight altitude, as helicopters are supposed to fly 200 feet on the ground and should be in communication with air traffic control when flying through the national runner of the national runner the airport. Trump and Hegseth have raised questions about where the helicopter was flying, as it seems to be about 400 meters above the ground.
Tim Loranger, an aviation attorney of Wisner Baum and a veteran sailor who spent years working as a mechanic for aircraft on hunting planes, said the helicopter seems to have flown too high, which could have been for Several reasons, such as problem with the plane or crew.
But the air traffic controller should also have told Black Hawk to move on the road, and probably would have avoided an accident, added Longer.
“It seems that some things should have been done at the last moment or until the last moment, to prevent this from happening,” he said.
Loranger said there should be a new consideration of the FAA on where the helicopters fly through the National Airport.
“If a plane is flying through the transition zone, a helicopter, and breaks the 200 feet roof, which can happen, is it too risky?” he said. “Maybe we just need to build the much larger pillow.”
It is also not clear why the helicopter did not see the plane, although a confluence of factors may have contributed to this, such as the pilots possibly with night views or the plane lights are buried inside the background of the brilliant city.
The passenger jet also went to land on a different track and made a circle maneuver, which could have contributed to the confusion for Black Hawk.
The army was identified on Friday two of the three soldiers involved in the accident: SGT SGT. Ryan Austin O’Hara, 28, of Lilburn, Ga., And the Head of Mandate 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, 39, of Great Mills, MD.
Hegseth said they were a “experienced” crew. The eaves served in the United States Navy from August 2007 to September 2017, when it became Black Hawk pilot. O’Hara has been a helicopter repairman since July 2014.
An occupied airport may not have been blamed directly, but added to a perfect storm of failures, said Alexander, the former military helicopter pilot, who pushed Congress to work to address security problems. in the DC region.
“Hopefully, at least, they can be positive, approach it, and have a security assessment and remain to realpose, especially in this area and other metropolitan areas occupied as New York.” He said: “To make sure all aviation operations are safe for the flying audience.”
