The U.S. Army found many systemic breakdowns that led to last year’s midair collision between an American Airlines jet and a Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River, and recommended numerous steps the military should take to prevent future tragedies.
The military has not publicly released its report on the deadliest plane crash on U.S. soil in over two decades, but eventually shared it late last week with many of the families of the 67 people who died.
A revised version of the House’s aviation safety bill now has the backing of the NTSB, but most of the families of the 67 victims of last year’s midair collision near Washington, D.C., still want to see tougher requirements to ensure the reforms are completed.
The National Transportation Safety Board said the Alert Act now addresses its recommendation to require all aircraft flying around busy airports to have key locator systems that would allow the pilots to know more precisely where the traffic around them is flying. The NTSB has been recommending the systems since 2008.
The House failed to approve a bill Tuesday that was crafted after last year’s tragic midair collision near Washington D.C. to require all aircraft flying around busy airports to have key locator systems to prevent such crashes. The collision of an airliner and an Army helicopter killed 67 people.
The National Transportation Safety Board has been recommending such Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast systems to be installed since 2008. The bill that already passed the Senate would have required aircraft to be equipped with a system that can receive data about the locations of other aircraft. The complementary ADS-B Out system that broadcasts an aircraft’s location is already required.
Virginia’s two U.S. senators say they will try again to reduce air traffic and take other steps to address safety concerns at Reagan National Airport.
Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine are throwing their support behind the National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) final report into the January 2025 midair collision near the airport
Key senators and the families of the 67 dead in an airliner collision with an Army helicopter near the nation’s capital are convinced that advanced aircraft locator systems recommended by experts for nearly two decades would have prevented last year’s tragedy.
But it remains unclear if Congress will pass a bill requiring every plane and helicopter to use them around every busy airport.
WASHINGTON (AP) — For some, it was the children’s luggage and small ice skates that became indelible memories of the night a passenger plane and a helicopter collided over the murky Potomac River. Others remember boats navigating debris and shallow water to bring victims’ bodies ashore. And there was the suddenness: people seconds from landing, gone.
Families of those on board American Airlines Flight 5342 and an Army Black Hawk helicopter are marking Thursday as the one-year anniversary of the deadliest plane crash on U.S. soil in more than 20 years. Another group is reliving that night and the days, weeks and months that followed: the emergency responders who dove repeatedly into the river with nearly zero visibility, braving cold water, jet fuel and jagged wreckage in the hope of rescuing survivors.
The head of the Federal Aviation Administration said Tuesday he won’t allow operations in the airspace over the nation’s capital to revert back to the way they were before January’s deadly aircraft collision near Reagan National Airport.
Administrator Bryan Bedford told the House aviation subcommittee he won’t forget the 67 people who died when an airliner collided with an Army helicopter over the Potomac River.
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.
American Airlines intends to fight a recently filed lawsuit over the mid-air crash that killed 67 people near Reagan National Airport earlier this year.
The airline denies allegations that a failure to address known safety issues makes it partly responsible for the incident on Jan. 29. The company told ARLnow that it “has been supporting the families and loved ones” of crash victims and underscored its commitment to traveler safety.
By JOSH FUNK AP Transportation Writer
The family of one of the 67 people killed when an airliner collided with an Army helicopter over the Potomac River is suing the government and the airlines involved.
By JOSH FUNK AP Transportation Writer
Over three days of sometimes contentious hearings last week, the National Transportation Safety Board interrogated Federal Aviation Administration and Army officials about a list of things that went wrong and contributed to a Black Hawk helicopter and a passenger jet colliding over Washington, D.C., killing 67 people.
By JOSH FUNK AP Transportation Writer
Investigators probing the January midair collision of a passenger plane and an Army helicopter over Washington that killed 67 people found the chopper was flying higher than it should have been and its altitude readings were inaccurate.
