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DC aircraft shock: ATC personnel levels under scrutiny as barges arrive to help the salvation of operations


Barges are expected to arrive at the DC area on Saturday to help with the rescue operations of Wednesday’s mortal accident in Regan National Airport (DCA) As questions remain about how a black hawk helicopter of the army could have collided with an American Airlines plane in the air, killing 67 people.

The member of the National Transportation Security Board (NTSB), Todd Inman, said Friday that barges will help with rescue operations to ensure that the remaining victims are recovered. He said that his remains would be delivered immediately to them and the Office of the DC Forensic Doctor for identification and then returned to their families.

At least 40 bodies had been taken from the Potomac River on Friday. Both black boxes have been recovered.

The black box of the DC plane accident has been found and is examining

NTSB researchers examine the so -called black box recovered from the American Airlines plane that crashed with a Black Hawk helicopter from the US Army. UU. Near Washington, DC, on Thursday, January 30, 2024. (NTSB)

DC aircraft accident researchers recover the black boxes of American Airlines after collision in the air

A new New York Post report suggests that Black Hawk flew almost twice as much as it should have been and that the helicopter was not equipped with a new technology that would have alerted air traffic control of its path dangerously diverted. Meanwhile, a preliminary report indicated that personnel levels at the time of the collision “were not normal for the time of day and the volume of traffic.”

The Black Hawk Chopper flew more than 300 feet on the Potomac River at the time of mortal success, despite the fact that aviation guidelines require helicopters on that route to remain below 200 feet, the outlet reports.

The news would corroborate the opinion of President Donald Trump that the military plane was traveling too high.

“The Black Hawk helicopter was flying too high, by far. It was well above the 200 feet limit,” Trump wrote in Truth Social on Friday. “That is not really too complicated to understand, right?”

Trump signed an executive order on Thursday that requested an immediate evaluation of aviation security.

Flight routes

A graph of the two flight routes. (Fox News)

Senator Ted CruzR-Texas, who chairs the Senate Commerce, Science and Transport collision in the mortal air on Wednesday.

“Initially, flight 5342 was scheduled to land on track 1 in Reagan, but was redirected to track 33,” he wrote in X. “Meanwhile, the helicopter traveled along Route 1 before being transferred to the Route 4 “.

“We know that air traffic control confirmed with the helicopter crew that had visual contact with the plane. The controllers then instructed the helicopter to move behind the plane,” he added. “However, instead of complying, the helicopter moved in front of the plane. The two planes collided in the air, which resulted in a catastrophic explosion.”

In an episode of the podcast “The verdict”, Cruz said that the collision could have been avoided if the army would have equipped the Black Hawk with an automatic dependent surveillance supervision device, a relatively new technology that allows air traffic control operators See the altitude of an aircraft.

“The Black Hawk helicopter had a transponder, so it appeared on the radar. I had no technology called ADS-B, which is the technology that makes the location of an aircraft, and does so using GPS instead of radar,” he said . . “ADS-B is more precise and more reliable than simply a transpondor that is pinging on the radar.”

General view of the tower at Reagan National Airport, where an American Airlines jet hit a black hawk on Wednesday

A general view of the Control Tower at the Reagan National Airport, on Friday, January 31, 2025. Flights have resumed since the tragic accident on Wednesday night, where an American Airlines plane hit a Black Hawk helicopter from the US Army. (Leigh Green for Fox News Digital)

The air traffic controller left early work before blocking: report

Meanwhile, a preliminary FAA report indicated that a single air traffic controller was monitoring both aircraft and helicopters at the time of devastating accident.

Personnel levels at the time of the collision “were not normal for the time of day and the volume of traffic,” reports the New York Times, citing the report. In addition, a tower supervisor supposedly left another The air traffic controller leaves work early Wednesday evening. The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) demands that a controller monitor aircraft, while another helicopter monitor.

The Times report says that the tower at the airport was almost a third below the levels of personnel directed, with 19 totally certified controllers as of September 2023, citing the workforce of the workforce of the most recent air traffic controller , an annual report to Congress that contains target and real personnel levels.

The objectives established by the FAA and the union of drivers require 30.

Five current and previous controllers told him at the exit that the controller in the tower should have directed more proactively to the helicopter and the plane that would move away from each other. Instead, the controller asked the helicopter to move away from the plane.

Another New York Times report suggests that more than 90% of the country’s 313 air traffic control facilities operate below the personnel levels recommended by FAA.

Photos of victims after the collision between an American Airlines jet and a American hawk helicopter

Photos of some of the victims after the collision between a Jet American Airlines and a American black hawk helicopter (Getty images)

The New York Times reported that as of January, 285 facilities were below the levels established by the FAA and the union that represents the controllers. In at least 73 facilities, at least a quarter of the workforce is missing.

The army He has appointed the other soldiers killed in the collision. They were identified as NCOs 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, 39, of Great Mills, Maryland, and the Sergeant. Ryan Austin O’Hara, 28, from Lilburn, Georgia.

The third sun family that was killed in Wednesday’s mortal midair collision Near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, he requests that his identity will not be publicly released, the army said on Friday.

The convicted American Airlines plane led to more than a dozen people returning from a training camp after the 2025 artistic skating championship in Wichita, Kansas, where the flight originated. Those victims included Spencer Lane and Appears far, Both 16, who promised skaters in the Boston skating club in Norwood, Massachusetts, as well as Shishkova and Vadim Naumov even, who together won a 1994 World Championship in artistic skating couples.

Emergency response units Search at the place of the American Airlines plane accident on the Potomac River

The American Airlines flight from Wichita, Kansas, crashed in the air with a military helicopter while approaching Ronald Reagan National Airport. According to the reports, there were no survivors among the 67 people aboard both planes. (Katopodis/getty images)

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Meanwhile, the Federal Aviation Administration will restrict helicopter traffic around DCA, starting Friday.

The decision was made with the support of Trump and in consultation with the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, according to an X position of the Secretary of the Department of Transportation (DOT) Sean Duffy.

“Today’s decision will immediately help secure airspace near Reagan airport, ensuring the safety of aircraft and helicopter traffic,” Duffy wrote.

The restricted area includes the Memorial Bridge to the Capitol South street bridge, excluding the tides basin, Haines Point to Wilson Bridge and on the top of DCA.



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