Following a collision between American Airlines Flight 5342 and an Army Black Hawk helicopter on January 29 near Washington Reagan National Airport, the NTSB recommended (and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy then banned) helicopter traffic on a four-mile stretch along the Potomac River.
But this particularly busy part of U.S. airspace continues to see incidents. On Thursday, with a Black Hawk helicopter approaching the nearby Pentagon, two commercial flights were forced to abort their landings.
U.S. Army spokesperson Capt. Victoria Goldfedib explained in a statement that, “A UH-60 Blackhawk was directed by Pentagon Air Traffic Control to conduct a ‘go-around,’ overflying the Pentagon helipad in accordance with approved flight procedures. As a result, DCA Air Traffic Control issued a ‘go-around’ to two civil fixed wing aircraft to ensure the appropriate deconfliction of airspace.”
The two impacted flights were Delta flight 1671 coming from Orlando and Republic flight 5825 coming from Boston.
“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 at DCA,” said Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington. “This comes less than a week after this brigade resumed flights in the National Capital Region.” Cantwell is the ranking Democrat on the Senate committee overseeing the Federal Aviation Administration.
The FAA reported that the Delta flight came within 0.89 miles and 400 feet from the helicopter, while the Republic flight came within 0.4 miles and 200 feet of the helicopter.
For the latest travel news, updates and deals, subscribe to the daily TravelPulse newsletter.
Topics From This Article to Explore
