US agency to probe FAA oversight of Washington airspace after fatal collision
- - US agency to probe FAA oversight of Washington airspace after fatal collision
David ShepardsonAugust 8, 2025 at 2:37 PM
By David Shepardson
(Reuters) -A U.S. agency announced on Friday an investigation into the government's management of airspace around Reagan Washington National Airport after the January 29 collision between an American Airlines regional jet and an Army helicopter that killed 67 people.
The U.S. Transportation Department Office of Inspector General said it is auditing the Federal Aviation Administration's management of airspace and its allowance of exemptions of the use of a key safety system known as ADS-B, which transmits an aircraft's location, by some military aircraft.
The FAA has faced criticism from lawmakers, the National Transportation Safety Board and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy for failing to act on reports of near-miss incidents before the collision in January.
"Every sign was there that there was a safety risk, and the tower was telling you," NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said last week during a three-day hearing by her agency into the collision. "You transferred people out instead of taking ownership over the fact that everybody in FAA, in the tower, was saying there was a problem. ... Fix it. Do better."
The FAA said it supports the review and welcomes scrutiny. "There must never be another tragedy like the one on January 29,” the FAA's chief, Bryan Bedford, said.
The crash, which occurred just southeast of the airport over the Potomac River, was the deadliest U.S. air disaster in more than 20 years.
In May, the FAA barred the Army from helicopter flights around the Pentagon after a May 1 close call that forced two civilian planes to abort landings. The FAA this month said the helicopter flights remained on hold even after the agency disclosed it had signed a new agreement with the Army on July 1.
The NTSB disclosed in March that since 2021 there had been 15,200 air separation incidents near Reagan Washington National Airport between commercial airplanes and helicopters, including 85 close-call events.
U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell, a Democrat of Washington state, praised the audit, saying it "will demand answers about why the FAA ignored more than 15,000 dangerous helicopter incidents and allowed military aircraft to fly without critical safety equipment in DCA's congested airspace." DCA is the airport code for Reagan Washington National Airport.
Cantwell called on the Army's inspector general "to step up and launch" its own audit.
Last month, Senator Ted Cruz and several other Republican senators unveiled legislation to require the use of ADS-B by military helicopters near civilian planes and the use of ADS-B for all civilian aircraft. The helicopter involved in the accident in January was not using ADS-B at the time of the collision.
ADS-B, or automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast, is an advanced surveillance technology that transmits an aircraft's location.
The FAA is now requiring military helicopters to use ADS-B near Reagan.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Paul Simao and Leslie Adler)
Source: “AOL General News”
