Congress is set to convene a hearing on Thursday morning to address the recent tragic midair collision that occurred above the nation’s capital, resulting in the deaths of 67 individuals in January. The focus will be on what led to this catastrophic event and what has been discovered thus far.
Present at the hearing will be the chair of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), alongside leaders from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Army’s aviation division, who will provide insights into the ongoing investigation.
Lawmakers are expected to scrutinize the alarming 85 close calls involving aircraft near Washington’s Ronald Reagan National Airport over the last three years and question why no preventive measures were taken. Additionally, there are concerns regarding the Army’s usage of helicopters in the area without utilizing essential safety systems that communicate their location to other aircraft and the control tower.
Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and Washington Democrat Maria Cantwell, both prominent members of the committee overseeing aviation, have demanded clarity from the Army regarding the operational frequency and protocol for Black Hawk helicopters in the vicinity of Washington, D.C., particularly concerning their location data transmission status.
NTSB Chairwoman expressed concerns earlier this month about the “intolerable risk to aviation safety” posed by the proximity of planes and helicopters in the Washington area, indicating that the FAA should have recognized these dangers earlier.
Calling for improved safety data analysis, she emphasized the urgency to detect potential threats within existing data. “The next accident is in the data right now. And what are we doing to figure out what that is?” she asserted.
In response, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy pledged to leverage artificial intelligence to evaluate data from various airports, identifying potential risks in major metropolitan areas with heavy helicopter traffic, including Boston, New York, Baltimore-Washington, Detroit, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, and Los Angeles.
The inquiry into the collision, which involved an American Airlines passenger jet and an Army helicopter on January 29, is still in its nascent stages. Both aircraft plummeted into the Potomac River, resulting in the loss of all lives on board. Completion of the final report is anticipated to exceed one year.
Preliminary investigations suggest that the helicopter might have experienced inaccurate altitude readings moments before impact and that communication disruptions likely hindered the crew’s ability to receive critical air traffic instructions.
This incident marks the deadliest plane crash in the U.S. since 2001, which claimed 265 lives in New York.
A surge in aviation incidents, including several crashes and close calls this year, has drawn renewed attention to air travel safety. Notable incidents include a medical transport jet crash in Philadelphia that resulted in seven fatalities, a commuter aircraft mishap in Alaska claiming ten lives, and multiple near misses involving commercial airlines in recent weeks.
The focus remains on the January 29 collision involving American Airlines Flight 5342, which was approaching for landing with 60 passengers and four crew members onboard. Meanwhile, the Army Black Hawk, carrying three soldiers, was conducting emergency evacuation drills for government officials.
It has been reported that the helicopter crew might have had limited visibility due to night-vision goggles. Just before the collision, air traffic controllers suggested a shorter runway approach, which the pilots accepted, indicating that the use of this runway necessitates an exclusive shutdown of the helicopter route due to potential conflicts.
Evidence from flight data recorders has been retrieved, and both aircraft wreckages have been recovered. Preliminary findings reveal that an incomplete radio transmission left the helicopter crew unaware of critical directives to reposition behind the jet before the crash.
The collision, which raises ongoing concerns regarding aviation safety measures and protocols, has prompted discussions around potential improvements in data quality and communication procedures to enhance future air travel safety.
