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Military helicopter flights forced at least two aircraft to abort landings in Reagan National Airport In the week before a deadly collision presumably kill 67 people on Wednesday, according to a report.
On Tuesday night, just one day before the collision between an American Airlines flight and a Black Hawk army helicopter, a different plane alerted the air traffic control tower that had to abort its landing to avoid the collision With a helicopter, The Washington Post reported.
Another plane that arrived in DCA from Charlotte shed its landing on January 23, again due to a helicopter.
“They had to surround again because there was a helicopter on the flight route,” said Richard Hart, a passenger on the January 23 flight who spoke with the Washington Post. “At that time I found him strange … Now I find it disturbingly tragic.”
The crew recovers the remains of American Airlines flight 5342 on the Potomac River, Washington, DC, on January 30, 2025. The plane was involved in a fatal collision with a black hawk helicopter from the US army last night. (Leigh Green for Fox News Digital)
The two nearby calls occurred within a week of Wednesday’s horrible collision, in which an incoming commercial flight from Wichita, Kansas, crashed with a military helicopter on the Potomac River. A total of 64 people, including four crew members, were aboard Flight 5342 by Passenger American Airlines, and three soldiers were in the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk Army That came from Fort Belvoir in Virginia. All are alleged dead.
The tragedy has generated concerns about the frequent military training flights around the Reagan National Airport, including a helicopter lane that crosses with the flight route of the airplanes in the southeast approach of track 33, where the 5342 flight of American Eagle de Wichita tried to land on Wednesday, the post reported Wednesday, the post reported Wednesday. .
The Federal Aviation Administration has placed an air traffic controller dedicated to helicopters in the National Airport Tower to administer the hazards, according to the report, citing a source familiar with the tower operations.
However, an internal preliminary report of the FAA showed that the number of staff members working in the Air Control Tower in DCA “was not normal for day of day and the traffic volume” on Wednesday, said Associated Press .
“The position configuration was not normal for the time of day and the traffic volume,” the report said.
DC air accident timeline: air collision involves 67 passengers, crew members, soldiers
The graph shows a plane accident timeline near Reagan National Airport near Washington, DC (Fox News)
Despite the report that said that the staff “was not normal”, a person familiar with the matter told Fox News Digital that the staff at the DCA control tower on Wednesday night was at a normal level.
The person explained that the positions are regularly combined if air controllers have to move away from the console to rest, or if they are involved in a change of turn. Controllers can also have to move away when air traffic is slow, explained the person, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal procedures.
Supervisors have the ability to combine roles, which was the case on Wednesday night, although the person familiar with the matter could not say why. When asked about air traffic and previous reports of being heavy on Wednesday night, the source said it was moderate.
The history of Washington Post cited a report from the Government Office of the Government of 2023 to Congress that found that 50 entities operated approximately 88,000 helicopter flights within 30 miles of DCA between 2017 and 2019, citing FAA data.
Part of the remains is seen when the rescue boats seek in the waters of the Potomac River after a plane when approaching the Reagan National Airport crashed into the river near Washington, DC, on January 30, 2025. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP through Getty Images)
Regulators have tried to define safe roads so that military helicopters fly without interfering with commercial flights that land or take off at the airport. A 2021 GAO report said: “In the airspace near Reagan National and the Potomac River, FAA further limits the maximum altitudes for helicopters where helicopter routes overlap with commercial passenger aircraft operations to guarantee the Security of all aircraft. “
On Wednesday night, air traffic controllers had contacted Black Hawk and asked if he could see the commercial plane that was approaching while Flight 5342 prepared to land on track 33.
“Do you have the CRJ in view?” He asked the controller, and the helicopter pilot confirmed that he saw the passenger plane. The pilot requested “visual separation”, which means that he was trying to get out of the flight path, according to Flightradar24 Audio.
The plane and the helicopter collided moments later in a burning explosion.
A general view of the Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, on Thursday, January 30, 2025. An American Airlines flight from Wichita, Kansas, crashed with a Black Hawk helicopter while approaching the airport to land the previous night. (Leigh Green for Fox News Digital)
Jim Brauchle, a former United States Air Force browser who is now a lawyer who represents families of aviation disasters, previously told Fox News Digital that having an attentive to obstacles can be difficult.
“Having flown at night, after having tried to look and see traffic, I think most people would say: ‘Oh, how difficult is it to lose a plane,’ right? You should be able to see that. But it is Much more difficult than people would expect, “he said.
At night in an urban environment like Washington, DC, Or northern Virginia, pilots may not see other airplanes and, on the other hand, can trust to see lights against collision or landing, according to Brauchle. But the different environmental lights of buildings and high towers can hinder the distinction of which lights belong to other airplanes.
“What I heard from the audio is that they called (air traffic control). The helicopter said he had the plane in sight,” said the lawyer. “I guess, and again, I’m just speculating, if they saw something they thought it was the plane, be it a tower light, maybe it was another plane that was taking off. What they thought they obviously saw it was not ‘t the plane “.
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The cause of the collision is currently under investigation by the FAA and several other federal agencies.
The nearby call on Tuesday, the night before the deadly collision, involved the 4514 Republic Airways flight from Connecticut, the Washington Post reported. The pilot told air traffic controllers that he had to divert due to an emergency alert on helicopter traffic under the aircraft.
The flight tracker maps showed that the plane was heading south along the Potomac River corridor to Reagan National Airport, but took a sharp turn to the west. Later he landed safely at 8:16 pm, according to the report.
Audrey Conklin, Greg Wehner and Stephen Sorace of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.
