At a hearing on Capitol Hill, senators learned from Federal Aviation Administration officials that a disturbing new detail has emerged regarding the midair collision between an Army helicopter and an American Airlines flight that killed 67 people in Washington, D.C.
The FAA revealed that a hotline between the Defense Department and air traffic controllers had been down for three years, and officials were unaware of the situation. This failure made it difficult for controllers to track the presence of Army helicopters in some of the nation's busiest airspace.
As a result, military flights have since been restricted near Reagan National Airport.
There have long been concerns over air traffic congestion around Reagan National Airport. As part of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024, Reagan National Airport was authorized to add flights from five cities amid ongoing concerns that the airport could not handle any additional traffic.
"We take safety responsibilities extremely seriously in the FAA, and those were the questions we were asking and we were not aware but we became aware after that event, and now that we became aware of that event, we're insisting upon that line to be fixed before we resume any operations out of the Pentagon," said Franklin McIntosh, the FAA’s deputy chief operating officer.
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The National Transportation Safety Board issued an "urgent recommendation report," pressing for the Federal Aviation Administration to prohibit helicopters from flying on "Route 4 between Hains Point and the Wilson Bridge when runways 15 and 33 are being used for departures and arrivals."
The NTSB also urged the FAA to designate an alternative helicopter route that can be used when those runways are in use.
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NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy has cautioned that the radio altitudes captured by flight recorders and the altitudes the flight crews saw from their main instruments may have conflicted. Officials said the collision likely occurred just under 300 feet — well above the helicopters 200-foot limit in that area.
The NTSB has not yet issued a final report about the crash, maintaining that all of its investigative findings are preliminary. Homendy reiterated to reporters Tuesday that it will take time to completely analyze all of the data and variables involved in the incident.
