Military flights of Army helicopters temporarily halted around Washington's airport due to close encounters.
ция WASHINGTON - The U.S. Army has hit the brakes on helicopter operations near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport after a pair of commercial flights were forced to abandon landing last week due to an Army Black Hawk helicopter en route to the Pentagon.
The commander of the 12th Aviation Battalion has ordered a halt to chopper flight operations around Reagan National Airport following a tense encounter on Thursday, two military sources said to The Associated Press on Monday. The shutdown began on Friday, according to one of the sources.
This move follows the devastating midair collision in January that resulted in the loss of 67 lives when a commercial jet collided with a Black Hawk helicopter at Reagan airport. The incident in question involved a Delta Air Lines Airbus A319 and a Republic Airways Embraer E170, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
In the latest near miss, the commercial flights were instructed by air traffic control to execute "go-arounds" due to a priority air transport helicopter, the Federal Aviation Administration stated in an email.
The priority air transport helicopters of the 12th battalion cater to high-ranking officials at the Pentagon, with the Black Hawk PAT25 being the same model that was involved in the fatal January collision. This crash marked the worst midair disaster in the U.S. in over two decades.
In March, the FAA imposed a ban on helicopters sharing airspace with fixed-wing aircraft near Reagan airport. Both the NTSB and FAA are now looking into the most recent close call with an Army helicopter.
After the latest incident, the Army confirmed that the UH-60 Blackhawk was following published FAA flight routes and adhering to Reagan airport's air traffic control instructions when it was directed to execute a "go-around," overflying the Pentagon heliport in accordance with established flight procedures.
However, helicopter activity remains a cause for concern around the bustling airport. On Sunday, three flights that had been cleared for landing were required to perform another go-around due to a police helicopter on an urgent mission in the area. Despite the hiccup, all three flights landed safely on their second attempts.
The NTSB revealed that there had been a disconcerting number of close calls near Reagan in recent years, and the FAA should have taken action sooner, according to their findings following the January crash. This crash drew attention to 85 close calls in the three years prior that should have highlighted a worsening safety issue, but FAA officials missed the escalating trend.
Since then, the FAA has launched an examination of data from airports across the country with high helicopter traffic that identified potential safety concerns at airports such as Las Vegas, with ongoing investigations.
Initial reports of the pause in Army helicopter flights were made by Reuters.
Meanwhile, delays and cancellations persist at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey on Monday. The FAA attributes arriving flight delays of nearly four hours to a lack of air traffic controllers, poor weather, and outdated air traffic control equipment in need of an upgrade.
The Associated Press writer Josh Funk contributed to this report from Omaha, Nebraska.
Enrichment Data:
- Tone: Informative and straightforward.
- Insights: The close call with the commercial flights involved a Delta Air Lines Airbus A319 and a Republic Airways Embraer E170. The Army UH-60 Blackhawk was following published FAA flight routes and air traffic control from Reagan airport when it was directed to execute a "go-around." Since the incident, the FAA has been conducting an examination of data at airports with high helicopter traffic, including identifying safety concerns with helicopter tours at the Las Vegas airport.
- After a pair of commercial flights were forced to abandon landing last week due to a Black Hawk helicopter en route to the Pentagon, the U.S. Army halted helicopter operations near Reagan National Airport on Friday.
- In the latest close call, two commercial flights were instructed by air traffic control to execute "go-arounds" due to a priority air transport helicopter, which was revealed to be a Black Hawk from the 12th Aviation Battalion.
- The 12th Aviation Battalion's Black Hawk helicopters are typically used for high-ranking officials at the Pentagon, but their operation near Reagan National Airport has recently become a cause for concern due to multiple close calls.
- On Sunday, three flights that had been cleared for landing were required to perform another go-around due to a police helicopter on an urgent mission in the area, highlighting ongoing issues with helicopter activity near Reagan National Airport.
