Over the past three years, at least two riders reported situations with helicopters that could have caused accidents at Reagan National Airport, where the collision between a helicopter and a passenger plane left 67 dead, according to a review by CNN of incident reports.
On two occasions, passenger planes had to take “evasive measures” to avoid colliding with helicopters while trying to land at the airport, according to pilot reports.
In a third incident, two military helicopters were very close, a air traffic controller reported.
In addition, one day before Wednesday’s collision, another flight approaching Reagan airport was forced to abort its first attempted landing and go around after a helicopter flew near its route, according to traffic control audio audio Air.
These cases will certainly gain more attention after this year’s tragedy, which killed 64 people who were board the plane and three army military personnel on a helicopter training flight.
While a search and recovery operation is still inside and around Potomac, authorities are trying to find out exactly what went wrong in the air above the country’s capital.
Complex space and lack of employees
At the time of the collision, an air traffic controller at Reagan National Airport was overseeing helicopters and planes, a source told CNN.
Although the work is usually done by two people, the source pointed out that having a person taking care of both is not uncommon.
This corresponds to a highlighted problem in one of the previous 2022 reports of 2022, in which a controller warned that there was not enough staff in the airport tower.
Function () {“Use strict”; window.addeventlistener (“message”, (a) {if (void 0! == a.data[“datawrapper-height”]) {var e = document.Queryselectorall (“Iframe”); for (var t in a.data[“datawrapper-height”]) for (var r = 0; r Aviation experts claim that the Washington region is exceptionally complex airspace to pilot itself. Flight restrictions decreed after September 11 block air traffic to pass near government buildings. In addition, military and government helicopters regularly cross the area, and flights are constantly taking off and landing from Reagan, which has the busiest track in the country. Situations that almost caused accidents previously between aircraft and helicopters at Reagan National Airport (DCA) were detailed in the NASA aviation security report database, which records incidents reported by aviation officials. Reports are registered anonymously and do not identify specific airlines or flights. In April 2024, a passenger airplane pilot wrote that when he got down to the DCA, the crew received a traffic warning and a warning from the collision prevention system showing a helicopter “about 90 meters below us.” The crew “took evasive action”, according to the report, and then managed to land normally after passing above the helicopter. “We did not receive a notice of the traffic from the [controle de tráfego aéreo]Then we didn’t know he was there, “wrote the pilot, suggesting that there should be” better separation for DCA traffic in the river’s look to the helicopter traffic that is flying up and down in the river. ““Almost accidents” at Reagan National Airport
In another incident in October 2022, a passenger pilot reported that the aircraft’s collision prevention system warned the crew on near “traffic” and told them to “climb now”. The aircraft aborted the landing, circulated and successfully landed on the second attempt.
“After reviewing the approach path and other information, we estimated that we reached 90 meters more or less than it turned out to be a helicopter taking off from the hospital,” wrote the pilot.
In both incidents, the pilots reported that they were landing on track 19, which was not the track where the American Airlines flight should land on Wednesday night.
Both planes were listed as operating under “Part 121”, a regulatory certificate that usually covers large US -based airlines and regional aircraft.
And in both cases, the pilots reported that they did not see the helicopter that possibly reached a few dozen meters of hitting.
A third database incident, reported by an Air traffic controller working in DCA, described a “air conflict” between two military helicopters near the airport in September 2022, although exact details are not clear.
The two helicopters were very close to each other at a time when “there are no staff [funcionários o] Enough to fill all positions in the tower’s cabin, “the controller wrote-referring to the air control tower cabin.
Plane aborted landing on Tuesday (28)
More recently, Republic Airways flight 4514 aborted a landing on Tuesday night as it approaches the runway 19 after air traffic control warns it about a nearby helicopter, according to the audio from the specialist Liveatc.net.
The Embraer ERJ 175 twin -engine began an up -to -right ascending curve away from the airport and later landed, show data from Flightware, a flight tracking site.
The plane, which was flying from Connecticut, reached an altitude of about 490 meters during its first descent, while the helicopter was about 90 meters, according to the flight data and flight screening – so the aircraft does not It came as close as the previous “almost accidents”.
The Washington Post reported Tuesday’s incident for the first time.
Former administrator says he is not “familiar” with the cases
Randy Babbitt, former administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, said he was not “familiar” with the incidents mentioned.
Still, he noted that helicopters usually respond to emergency situations, which may, in some cases, make the arrival of an accident a priority in relation to airspace regulations.
As helicopters fly at low altitude in the region, they rarely create problems for airplanes, he argued.
It is unclear whether any airport policy has been changed or if air traffic controllers took any action in response to cases that could have resulted in accidents.
As the NASA database covers only incidents reported by aviation agents, it does not necessarily cover all “almost accidents” and includes gross reports that were not necessarily confirmed by an investigation.
In addition to cases involving helicopters, the airport has recorded several dangerous situations between planes during landings or takeoffs in recent years.
This content was originally published in the US: pilots reported “almost accidents” at airport years before collision on CNN Brazil.
Source: CNN Brasil
Bruce Belcher is a seasoned author with over 5 years of experience in world news. He writes for online news websites and provides in-depth analysis on the world stock market. Bruce is known for his insightful perspectives and commitment to keeping the public informed.
