Remind me not to fly to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. An Army Black Hawk helicopter almost collided with a plane not once but twice last week.
The airport suffered two near misses with the Black Hawk. One near miss brought the helicopter within 200 feet of the plane. This comes just months after an Army Black Hawk collided with an American Airlines flight. It killed everyone on board the aircraft. In total, 67 people died. Delta Flight 1671 and Republic Flight 5825 almost experienced collisions of their own. Both flights were rerouted before landing due to the helicopters in the area.
The FAA's assistant administrator said the Black Hawk "took a scenic route around the Pentagon versus proceeding directly from the west to the heliport." The helicopter was between 200 and 2,100 feet from the Republic flight. For the Delta flight, it was between 400 to 2,600 feet away.
Black Hawk Collisions
"It is outrageous that only three months after an Army Black Hawk helicopter tragically collided with a passenger jet, the same Army brigade again flew a helicopter too close to passenger jets on final approach," Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) told Politico. She also called on the FAA and officials "to give our airspace the security and safety attention it deserves."
This comes after a helicopter collided with an American Airlines flight in January. It's the deadliest US air crash since 2001. Since then, airline and DC officials have garnered backlash for not doing more to handle things. National Transportation Safety Board launched a probe into the cause of the crash.
Meanwhile, the Army warned against "speculating" about the causes of the crash.
"It is irresponsible to take snippets of information and present them in a way that casts blame on any individual or group," the Army said in a statement to the New York Times. "The events of January 29th were tragic, and the Army is committed to a full and thorough investigation that will provide fact-based conclusions so we can ensure an accident such as this is never repeated."
Incidents like this with the Black Hawk likely don't instill confidence in the industry and protocols.
