On Friday, reports broke that an air traffic control supervisor allowed a controller to leave their post early at Reagan National Airport, just before the fatal mid-air collision between an American Airlines jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter.
According to NBC Washington, one controller was left to handle both airplane and helicopter traffic on that fateful night. Reportedly, it is “allowable” but not “optimal” for one person to perform both jobs.
Matt reported that a preliminary Federal Aviation Administration report detailed that staffing was “not normal” at Reagan Airport when the crash occurred.
Additionally, there are reports that the helicopter may have been on an unapproved route before the crash, as Matt noted.
Since then, the FAA has indefinitely closed routes to most helicopter traffic near Reagan National Airport as an investigation continues.
BREAKING: The FAA tells me it has indefinitely SHUT DOWN the low-altitude helicopter corridor in use during Wednesday's fatal midair collision.
— Pete Muntean (@petemuntean) January 31, 2025
Blackhawk was on Route 4. It and Route 1 are now both closed "inside the bridges." Most significant action yet by FAA. pic.twitter.com/PAyXUdqWMy
The Wednesday night airplane crash claimed the lives of 67 people total. President Donald Trump confirmed yesterday that there are no survivors.
WATCH: New videos show the mid-air collision in Washington, D.C. - CNN pic.twitter.com/lkSCw7ucbA
— BNO News (@BNONews) January 31, 2025
That’s not all. A Fox News report detailed that two airplanes aborted landings at DCA in the past week to avoid colliding with military helicopters (via Fox News):
On Tuesday night, just one day before the collision between an American Airlines flight and an Army Black Hawk helicopter, a different plane alerted the air traffic control tower that it had to abort its landing to avoid collision with a helicopter, the Washington Post reported.
Yet another plane arriving at DCA from Charlotte scrubbed its landing on Jan. 23, again because of a helicopter.
"They had to circle back around because there was a helicopter in the flight path," said RIchard Hart, a passenger on the Jan. 23 flight who spoke to the Washington Post. "At the time I found it odd. ... Now I find it disturbingly tragic."
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