Transportation Secretary Accuses DOD Of Breaching Airspace Safety Rules In New Reagan Airport Incident

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy criticized the Department of Defense (DOD) Friday after an Army helicopter flying above Washington, D.C. forced two passenger airplanes to abort landing Thursday, according to Politico.

Duffy dubbed the incident “unacceptable” in a statement of apparent frustration that suggested flight instructions for military aircraft were not followed.

“Our helicopter restrictions around DCA are crystal clear. In addition to investigations from @NTSB [the National Transportation Safety Board] and @FAANews [Federal Aviation Administration], I’ll be talking to the @DeptofDefense [DOD] to ask why the hell our rules were disregarded,” Duffy wrote.

The Army Black Hawk helicopter “took a scenic route around the Pentagon versus proceeding directly from the west to the heliport” at the Pentagon, forcing air traffic controllers to order two go-arounds, Politico reported, citing Chris Senn, FAA’s assistant administrator for government and industry affairs. The helicopter reportedly veered off its approved flight path that would have led it straight to the helipad rather than around the Pentagon.

The helicopter forced the Delta Air Lines flight and a Republic Airways flight to perform the go-arounds while it was providing “priority transport,” the FAA reportedly wrote Friday. Both the FAA and the NTSB are investigating.

As both commercial jets neared landing at the Reagan National Airport (DCA), the helicopter and the Delta flight became separated by less than a mile and 400 feet, with the helicopter and the Republic flight later about 0.4 miles and 200 feet apart, according to Politico. The helicopter’s radar track “inadvertently floated and jumped to a different location on the controller feed after being unresponsive for a couple seconds,” Senn reportedly wrote. Air traffic controllers, therefore, could not see the helicopter in real time while tracking it.

The two commercial flights “were not within the restricted mixed traffic area” in the two “loss of separation” events, Senn reportedly added.

“Safety must ALWAYS come first. We just lost 67 souls! No more helicopter rides for VIPs or unnecessary training in a congested DCA airspace full of civilians. Take a taxi or Uber — besides most VIPs have black car service,” Duffy added.

The incident occurred about 12 weeks after another Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines commercial flight collided in mid-air as the passenger aircraft was attempting to land at the DCA. The Jan. 29 incident claimed all 64 lives aboard the commercial jet and all three soldiers aboard the helicopter as both aircraft exploded on impact and fell into the Potomac River.

Helicopter pilot Army Capt. Rebecca A. Lobach reportedly failed to execute certain air traffic control instructions to increase the distance between the helicopter and the commercial aircraft. (RELATED: Families Of DCA Crash Victims Pursue Negligence Claim Against FAA, US Army)

The flight was an annual test of Lobach’s flying skills, The New York Times reported. Lobach’s instructor, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, and a crew chief, Staff Sergeant Ryan Austin O’Hara, were the other two casualties aboard the helicopter.

Although Lobach was the most senior of the three, her over 450 flight hours constituted only about half of Eaves’ and O’Hara’s flight hours, according to the aviation magazine FLYING.

An airplane clipped the wing of another aircraft carrying two lawmakers at the DCA April 10.