Expect more low-flying military aircraft over the next few days.
A number of flyovers are planned through Sunday, June 14, as the nation celebrates its 250th anniversary and President Donald Trump celebrates his 80th birthday with a UFC cage match on the White House grounds.
The temporary rules imposed after last year’s collision of an airliner and an Army helicopter to improve the safety of the crowded airspace around Washington D.C. are being made permanent, the government announced Thursday.
The Federal Aviation Administration took steps to make sure that helicopters and airplanes would no longer share the same airspace around Reagan National Airport shortly after the investigation into the Jan. 29 crash began. The rules also prohibit air traffic controllers from relying on visual separation and require all military aircraft to broadcast their locations.
New route charts from the Federal Aviation Administration further restrict helicopter traffic around Reagan National Airport, reducing where the aircraft can fly over Arlington.
The modified charts, published last week, shrink the zones in which helicopters can fly over Northern Virginia and D.C. when operating on authorized business such as medical or law enforcement missions. A portion of the zone in Arlington, which previously extended to Fort Myer in the east, has been pushed back to west of Glebe Road.
A commercial airliner had to abandon its landing at Reagan National Airport after a U.S. Army helicopter began to ascend above the Pentagon earlier this year, officials say.
The two aircraft experienced a “loss of separation” around 2:30 p.m. on May 1, coming less than half a mile from each other, according to a preliminary report that the National Transportation Safety Board released on Friday.
By TARA COPP Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Military air traffic controllers lost contact with an Army helicopter for about 20 seconds as it neared the Pentagon on the flight that caused two commercial jets to abort their landings this month at a Washington airport, the Army told The Associated Press on Friday.
Helicopters flying near Reagan National Airport caused flight diversions yesterday (Sunday) and Thursday.
The first incident involved an Army Black Hawk helicopter taking a “scenic route around the Pentagon,” according to the Federal Aviation Administration. It caused two commercial aircraft to cancel landings and has drawn the ire of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.
Arlington’s congressman is throwing his support behind permanent flight traffic changes at Reagan National Airport following January’s fatal midair crash.
In a Friday letter, Rep. Don Beyer (D) and nine other lawmakers supported ending helicopter operations along the Potomac River between Hains Point and the Wilson Bridge when runways 15 and 33 are in use.
As safety restrictions tighten around Reagan National Airport, Arlington’s congressman is pushing to ensure this doesn’t mean more aircraft noise over residential areas.
Following last month’s fatal midair collision between a military helicopter and a commercial jet, the Federal Aviation Administration has announced new guardrails on flights around the airport.
More long-haul flights are coming to Reagan National Airport. And people annoyed by helicopter noise will continue to have their voice heard.
Those are two of the main local impacts from the FAA reauthorization bill just approved by Congress. The bill now awaits President Biden’s signature.
A woman was shot this afternoon in the Green Valley neighborhood.
The shooting happened around 1 p.m., reportedly near the intersection of S. Kemper Road and S. Oxford Street. Photos taken afterward show a crime scene along nearby S. Four Mile Run Drive.
Police are investigating back-to-back reported armed robberies in the Arlington Mill neighborhood.
The robberies happened around 2:30 p.m. on the 800 block of S. Frederick Street. Initial reports suggest that a masked man with a semiautomatic handgun separately robbed two people of cash.
Arlington County and neighboring jurisdictions are taking over ownership of a complaint system for reporting noisy choppers.
That means residents can continue to report loud aircraft noise to the U.S. government as it works to lessen noise by raising helicopter altitudes and altering flight paths.
