Two planes aborted landings at DCA due to helicopters in flight path in week before crash: report

Military chopper flights forced astatine slightest 2 planes to abort landings astatine Reagan National Airport successful the week earlier a deadly collision presumably killed 67 radical connected Wednesday, according to a report.

On Tuesday night, conscionable 1 time earlier the collision betwixt an American Airlines formation and an Army Black Hawk helicopter, a antithetic level alerted the aerial postulation power operation that it had to abort its landing to debar collision with a helicopter, the Washington Post reported.

Yet different level arriving astatine DCA from Charlotte scrubbed its landing connected Jan. 23, again due to the fact that of a helicopter.

"They had to ellipse backmost astir due to the fact that determination was a chopper successful the formation path," said RIchard Hart, a rider connected the Jan. 23 formation who spoke to the Washington Post. "At the clip I recovered it odd. ... Now I find it disturbingly tragic."

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Crew retrieve wreckage of American Airlines formation 5342 connected the Potomac River, Washington, D.C., connected Jan. 30, 2025. The level was progressive successful a fatal collision with a U.S. Army Black Hawk chopper the erstwhile night. (Leigh Green for Fox News Digital)

The 2 adjacent calls came wrong a week of Wednesday's horrifying collision, successful which an inbound commercialized formation from Wichita, Kansas, collided with a subject chopper implicit the Potomac River. A full of 64 people, including 4 unit members, were aboard rider American Airlines Flight 5342, and 3 soldiers were connected the Army Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk that came from Fort Belvoir successful Virginia. All are presumed dead.

The calamity has raised concerns astir predominant subject grooming flights astir Reagan National Airport, including a chopper lane that intersects with the formation way of craft connected the southeastern attack to Runway 33, wherever American Eagle Flight 5342 from Wichita attempted to onshore Wednesday, the Post reported.

The Federal Aviation Administration has placed an aerial postulation controller dedicated to helicopters successful the National Airport operation to negociate the hazards, the study said, citing a root acquainted with operation operations.

However, an interior preliminary study from the FAA showed that the fig of unit members moving astatine the aerial power operation astatine DCA was "not mean for the clip of time and measurement of traffic" connected Wednesday, the Associated Press reported.

"The presumption configuration was not mean for the clip of time and measurement of traffic," the study said.

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Graphic shows a timeline of the level clang adjacent Reagan National Airport adjacent Washington, D.C. (Fox News)

Despite the study saying the staffing was "not normal," a idiosyncratic acquainted with the substance told Fox News Digital that staffing successful the power operation astatine DCA connected Wednesday nighttime was astatine a mean level.

The idiosyncratic explained that the positions get combined regularly if aerial controllers person to measurement distant from the console for breaks, oregon if they are progressive successful a displacement change. Controllers whitethorn besides person to measurement distant erstwhile aerial postulation is slow, the idiosyncratic explained, speaking connected information of anonymity to sermon interior procedures.

Supervisors person the quality to harvester roles, which was the lawsuit connected Wednesday night, though the idiosyncratic acquainted with the substance could not accidental why. When asked astir the aerial postulation and erstwhile reports of it being dense connected Wednesday night, the root said it was moderate.

The Washington Post communicative cited a 2023 Government Accountability Office study to Congress that recovered 50 entities operated astir 88,000 chopper flights wrong 30 miles of DCA betwixt 2017 and 2019, citing FAA data. 

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Part of the wreckage is seen arsenic rescue boats hunt the waters of the Potomac River aft a level connected attack to Reagan National Airport crashed into the stream adjacent Washington, D.C., connected Jan. 30, 2025.  (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

Regulators person attempted to specify harmless paths for subject helicopters to alert without interfering with commercialized flights landing oregon taking disconnected astatine the airport. A 2021 GAO study noted, "in airspace adjacent Reagan National and the Potomac River, FAA further limits the maximum altitudes for helicopters wherever chopper routes overlap with commercialized rider airplane operations to guarantee the information of each aircraft."

On Wednesday night, aerial postulation controllers had contacted the Black Hawk aviator and asked whether helium could spot the approaching commercialized craft arsenic Flight 5342 prepared to onshore connected Runway 33.

"Do you person the CRJ successful sight?" the controller asked, and the chopper aviator confirmed helium saw the rider plane. The aviator requested "visual separation," meaning helium was trying to get retired of the flight's path, according to FlightRadar24 audio.

The level and chopper collided moments aboriginal successful a fiery explosion. 

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A wide presumption of Reagan National Airport successful Arlington, Virginia connected Thursday, January 30, 2025. An American Airlines formation from Wichita, Kansas collided with a Black Hawk chopper portion approaching the airdrome for landing the erstwhile evening. (Leigh Green for Fox News Digital)

Jim Brauchle, a erstwhile U.S. Air Force navigator who is present an lawyer representing families of victims successful aviation disasters, antecedently told Fox News Digital that keeping a lookout for obstacles tin beryllium difficult.

"Having flown astatine night, having tried to look and spot traffic, I deliberation astir radical would say, ‘Oh, however hard is it to miss an airliner,’ right? You should beryllium capable to spot that. But it's a batch much hard than radical would expect," helium said.

At nighttime successful an municipality situation similar Washington, D.C., oregon bluish Virginia, pilots whitethorn not beryllium capable to spot different craft and alternatively whitethorn trust connected seeing anti-collision oregon landing lights, according to Brauchle. But antithetic ambient lights from gangly buildings and towers that are lit whitethorn marque it hard to separate which lights beryllium to different aircraft.

"What I've heard from the audio is that they called retired to [air postulation control]. The chopper said that helium had the craft successful sight," the lawyer said. "My conjecture is, and again, I'm conscionable speculating, is they saw thing that they thought was the airplane, whether it beryllium a operation light, possibly it was different craft that was taking off. Whatever they thought they saw evidently wasn't the aircraft."

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The origin of the collision is presently nether probe by the FAA and respective different national agencies.

The adjacent telephone connected Tuesday, the evening earlier the deadly collision, progressive Republic Airways Flight 4514 from Connecticut, the Washington Post reported. The aviator told aerial postulation controllers it had to divert due to the fact that of an exigency alert astir chopper postulation beneath the aircraft.

Flight tracker maps showed the level was headed southbound on the Potomac River corridor towards Reagan National Airport but took a crisp crook to the west. It aboriginal landed safely astatine 8:16 p.m., the study said.

Fox News Digital's Audrey Conklin, Greg Wehner and Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.