OPINION:
Sixty-seven people needlessly died over the Potomac River as an Army Black Hawk helicopter slammed into an American Airlines regional jet on Jan. 29, 2025. Bureaucratic laziness set the tragedy into motion.
In a report Tuesday, the National Transportation Safety Board meticulously documented each misstep. Much of the 416-page tale reads familiar, as board members have for years demanded changes from an obstinate Federal Aviation Administration.
“Although midair collision risk was apparent in multiple data sources and concerns had been repeatedly raised by air traffic control (ATC) personnel, the FAA failed to act on recommendations or available information to mitigate the identified risk,” NTSB investigators determined.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy took command of the agency days after the incident and, without hesitation, ordered a remedy for the most glaring error. He limited military helicopter traffic passing through the busy airline corridor, recognizing that it wasn’t worth risking the lives of hundreds of travelers so high-ranking Pentagon brass could avoid the congested streets below.
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport’s air traffic controllers had formally recommended deleting the problematic helicopter route in 2013, but FAA management wasn’t interested. Same thing in 2023, when the controllers suggested adding a cautionary note to the chart at the point where airliners and helicopters might converge. This conflicted with arbitrary charting rules, and such things just weren’t done, they were told.
As the report explains, the intransigence is international. European regulators dragged their feet on approving upgraded collision avoidance technology called “ACAS” that would have given the American Airlines jet the precious seconds it needed to dodge the wayward chopper.
Neither Boeing nor Airbus will equip its fleet with the new gizmo because these companies aren’t about to invest millions of dollars in installing electronics they can’t use in other countries. A few months after the crash, European functionaries did sign off on ACAS, but the FAA still hasn’t mandated its use. It should.
As bad as that sounds, the Army is even more cavalier. According to the NTSB, “The helicopter was not equipped with any integrated traffic awareness or collision avoidance technology that could have alerted its crew to the impending collision.” Even the old-fashioned system would have provided 48 seconds of warning by the NTSB’s calculation.
The instructor on the Black Hawk training flight knew the helicopter was drifting in the wrong direction, but he didn’t realize the gravity of the mistake. “Alright kinda come left for me ma’am, I think that’s why he’s asking … we’re kinda … out towards the middle,” he said.
A few evaluators described the helicopter pilot that night as “well below average,” “rusty” or lacking “stick and rudder skills.” Others found her highly qualified. It shouldn’t matter either way, as the failure was in arranging military flights to routinely approach so close to commercial traffic.
Despite handling one of America’s most crowded runways, Reagan Airport’s tower was downgraded by the FAA, cutting the prestige and salaries for the overworked controllers posted there. The experienced ones left, and those who remained felt discouraged.
Mr. Duffy has tried to give raises to stem the bleeding of talent and encourage youths to apply to enter the profession. The House even sent a 3.8% pay hike for controllers to the Senate, where appropriators, for some reason, keep stripping the language.
Instead of allocating billions of taxpayer dollars to foreign nations, let’s spend a few extra bucks on the people who ensure we make it home safely. This disaster demonstrates the fatal consequences of misplaced priorities.
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