A high-ranking Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) official confirmed that the hotline between Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) and the Pentagon became inoperable during the Biden administration in March 2022.
On January 29, American Airlines Flight 5342, which had departed from Wichita, Kansas, with 60 passengers and four crew members on board, collided in midair near the airport with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter that had three people on board. Multiple American figure skaters and coaches returning from a training camp were on the flight. There were no survivors.
An internal preliminary report from the FAA said that staffing at the tower was “not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic,” according to The New York Times. The newspaper said the controller who was dealing with helicopters around the airport was also instructing airplanes that were landing and departing, tasks which are typically assigned to multiple people.
On Wednesday, Texas GOP Senator Ted Cruz questioned Franklin McIntosh, the FAA Deputy COO of air traffic control, about proper procedures.
“On April 25 for the first time since the January 28 mid-air collision, the army resumed flying in the national capital region,” Cruz noted. “Less than a week later, air traffic control had to command two commercial aircraft on final approach to abort their landing at DCA due to an Army Blackhawk on an apparent training mission at the Pentagon, having wandered far too close to the commercial aircraft flightpath.”
“Shortly thereafter, and just 10 days after having resumed limited flight in the national capital region, the army aviation brigade, suspended operations in the DC area,” he continued. “I’ve been told that prior to the army aviation brigade’s decision to suspend operations on May 5, the FAA was preparing to suspend the letter of agreement between the army and the FAA that gives the army the ability to operate the DC air space without having to first ask for FAA clearance for each flight. Was the FAA prepared to suspend the letter of agreement, and if so, what was concerning enough to justify such a decision?”
“We were extremely troubled by the incident that occurred, especially in light of DCA and the events that led up to the accident,” McIntosh admitted. “We were ready to deploy any option available that we could use or that we felt was necessary to bring safety measures and better behaviors from the DOD in this instance. … We were ready to do any option available to include what you just spoke to, which was removing the ability to fly.”
“Just to be clear, does that mean the FAA did actually draft an order suspending the army’s ability to fly in the DC area?” Cruz asked.
“I’m not 100% aware if we drafted an order, but we did have a discussion if that was an option that we wanted to pursue,” McIntosh replied. “I do know that the DOD came back and suspended operations on their own based on that event so we’re still working with DOD to improve that process.”
“Is it true that the hotline, the direct line between the Pentagon air traffic control and the DCA tower, has been inoperable since March 2022?” Cruz asked. When McIntosh confirmed that the hotline indeed had been inoperable, Cruz continued, ‘Who maintains that hotline?”
“I believe the DOD maintains that hotline but I think the next question would be why were we not aware of it and insist upon it being fixed? “ McIntosh replied. “We take safety responsibilities extremely seriously in the FAA and those were the questions we were asking and we were not aware, but we became aware after that event and now that we became aware of that event we are were insisting upon that line to be fixed before we resume any operations out of the Pentagon.
“While army flights were ongoing, if the hotline was not operational, how did controllers communicate?” Cruz wanted to know.
“We still have landline abilities; we can make phone calls from the helipad to the operation where the supervisor or the controller in charge can answer so we’re aware of the activity and if there was a departure clearance needed, we’d be able to relay it via that mechanism,” McIntosh answered.
“Is it also true that the air traffic control positions for local traffic and helicopters were combined early just as they were on the day of the mid-air collision?” Cruz pressed.
“Yes sir, it was,” McIntosh confirmed.
Daniel Chaitin contributed to this article.
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[[{“value”:”
A high-ranking Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) official confirmed that the hotline between Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) and the Pentagon became inoperable during the Biden administration in March 2022.
On January 29, American Airlines Flight 5342, which had departed from Wichita, Kansas, with 60 passengers and four crew members on board, collided in midair near the airport with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter that had three people on board. Multiple American figure skaters and coaches returning from a training camp were on the flight. There were no survivors.
An internal preliminary report from the FAA said that staffing at the tower was “not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic,” according to The New York Times. The newspaper said the controller who was dealing with helicopters around the airport was also instructing airplanes that were landing and departing, tasks which are typically assigned to multiple people.
On Wednesday, Texas GOP Senator Ted Cruz questioned Franklin McIntosh, the FAA Deputy COO of air traffic control, about proper procedures.
“On April 25 for the first time since the January 28 mid-air collision, the army resumed flying in the national capital region,” Cruz noted. “Less than a week later, air traffic control had to command two commercial aircraft on final approach to abort their landing at DCA due to an Army Blackhawk on an apparent training mission at the Pentagon, having wandered far too close to the commercial aircraft flightpath.”
“Shortly thereafter, and just 10 days after having resumed limited flight in the national capital region, the army aviation brigade, suspended operations in the DC area,” he continued. “I’ve been told that prior to the army aviation brigade’s decision to suspend operations on May 5, the FAA was preparing to suspend the letter of agreement between the army and the FAA that gives the army the ability to operate the DC air space without having to first ask for FAA clearance for each flight. Was the FAA prepared to suspend the letter of agreement, and if so, what was concerning enough to justify such a decision?”
“We were extremely troubled by the incident that occurred, especially in light of DCA and the events that led up to the accident,” McIntosh admitted. “We were ready to deploy any option available that we could use or that we felt was necessary to bring safety measures and better behaviors from the DOD in this instance. … We were ready to do any option available to include what you just spoke to, which was removing the ability to fly.”
“Just to be clear, does that mean the FAA did actually draft an order suspending the army’s ability to fly in the DC area?” Cruz asked.
“I’m not 100% aware if we drafted an order, but we did have a discussion if that was an option that we wanted to pursue,” McIntosh replied. “I do know that the DOD came back and suspended operations on their own based on that event so we’re still working with DOD to improve that process.”
“Is it true that the hotline, the direct line between the Pentagon air traffic control and the DCA tower, has been inoperable since March 2022?” Cruz asked. When McIntosh confirmed that the hotline indeed had been inoperable, Cruz continued, ‘Who maintains that hotline?”
“I believe the DOD maintains that hotline but I think the next question would be why were we not aware of it and insist upon it being fixed? “ McIntosh replied. “We take safety responsibilities extremely seriously in the FAA and those were the questions we were asking and we were not aware, but we became aware after that event and now that we became aware of that event we are were insisting upon that line to be fixed before we resume any operations out of the Pentagon.
“While army flights were ongoing, if the hotline was not operational, how did controllers communicate?” Cruz wanted to know.
“We still have landline abilities; we can make phone calls from the helipad to the operation where the supervisor or the controller in charge can answer so we’re aware of the activity and if there was a departure clearance needed, we’d be able to relay it via that mechanism,” McIntosh answered.
“Is it also true that the air traffic control positions for local traffic and helicopters were combined early just as they were on the day of the mid-air collision?” Cruz pressed.
“Yes sir, it was,” McIntosh confirmed.
Daniel Chaitin contributed to this article.
“}]]
