TOWNHALL | Published January 31, 2025
As details were pouring in about the air disaster at Reagan National Airport, there’s been a lot of speculation and horror over the mid-air collision: an American Airlines flight from Kansas crashed into a Blackhawk helicopter on approach. There are no survivors. All 67 people onboard the aircraft and the chopper perished.
There have indeed been many close calls at Reagan. There’s too much congestion, with differing flight patterns that likely contributed to Wednesday night’s disaster. We’re learning that the Blackhawk helicopter might have been on an unapproved route before the crash. There was also only one controller in the tower doing the work of two people. There should have been at least two people handling the traffic. The conditions in the tower were described as “not normal” (via NYT):
An Army helicopter may have deviated from its approved flight path before its deadly collision with an American Airlines jet over the Potomac River, the latest details to emerge as investigators combed the crash site for clues.
The collision happened on Wednesday night as the plane approached Reagan National Airport, where staffing at the air traffic control tower was “not normal,” according to a preliminary report from the Federal Aviation Administration.
The crash killed 67 people whose bodies were being recovered from the icy waters of the Potomac in a massive search operation.
Details about the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter’s final location indicated that it was not on its approved route and flying higher above the ground as it traversed the busy airspace just outside the nation’s capital, according to four people briefed on the matter but not authorized to speak publicly.
The internal F.A.A. report, which was reviewed by The New York Times, said the controller who was handling helicopters in the airport’s vicinity on Wednesday night was also instructing planes that were landing and departing from its runways — jobs typically assigned to two different controllers. A supervisor combined those duties sometime before 9:30 p.m. and allowed one controller to leave, according to a person briefed on the staffing, who was not authorized to speak publicly.
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SOURCE: www.townhall.com
RELATED: It Almost Happened the Night Before—Flight Had to Abort Landing at Reagan When Helicopter Got Too Close
REDSTATE | Published January 31, 2025
Facts are still coming in and the investigations are heating up after Wednesday night’s crash between a passenger plane and a military helicopter in the skies above Washington, D.C., a tragedy that is presumed to have killed all 64 airplane passengers and three service members aboard the chopper.
Speculation has been flying in from all areas about what could have led to a disaster, but one new revelation is sure to cause even more debate: a very similar episode occurred just the night before. Luckily, however, in that instance, tragedy was averted:
A passenger flight had to abort landing at Reagan National Airport in Washington DC the day before American Airlines Flight 5342 collided in midair with a helicopter.
Republic Airways Flight 4514 was forced to back out of touching down and had to make a second approach after a helicopter appeared near its flight path.
That’s according to an audio recording from air traffic control captured on Tuesday and heard by The Washington Post.
The near-miss was almost identical to what happened on Wednesday:
Flightradar data for the flight shows the plane had been travelling from Windsor Locks in Connecticut to the city and had to dramatically gain altitude shortly after descending on Reagan National Airport. It eventually landed safely.
The incident is eerily similar to the events of Wednesday night, when an American Airlines plane smashed into a US Army Black Hawk helicopter as it came into land at the airport.
The aircraft collided in a huge fireball that was visible on dashcams of cars driving on highways that snake past the airport, and crashed into the river.
Dozens of bodies have so far been pulled out of the Potomac River in the aftermath of American Eagle Flight 5342, and investigators say they’ve recovered the two black boxes. In addition, it has come to light that there were some staffing irregularities at the Reagan National Airport control tower, as our Becca Lower reported:
Some concerning information is now emerging about the air traffic control staffing situation at the airport involved in Wednesday evening’s tragic collision between an Army Black Hawk helicopter and a commercial airliner, after a review of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) internal, preliminary report on the incident near D.C.’s Reagan National Airport.
Staffing at the air traffic control tower at Ronald Reagan National Airport was “not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic,” according to an internal preliminary Federal Aviation Administration safety report about the collision that was reviewed by The New York Times.
The controller who was handling helicopters in the airport’s vicinity Wednesday night was also instructing planes that were landing and departing from its runways. Those jobs typically are assigned to two controllers, rather than one.
RedState will keep you updated as new information comes in regarding this terrible accident—and what led up to it. The thought that it almost happened the night before to a different flight is very scary indeed.
Update 1/30 9:40 p.m: Adding this tweet that purports to show flight 4514 on radar aborting the landing:
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SOURCE: www.redstate.com
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