The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has criticized the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for not taking ownership in the deadly Black Hawk helicopter collision with a passenger jet near Washington Reagan National Airport in January. NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy alleged that FAA tower employees were saying there was a problem with the U.S. Army aircraft flying in the same proximity of passenger aircraft. The Army helicopter was on a training flight at the time of the collision, and the tower was telling the FAA that there was a safety risk. Homendy cited FAA surveillance data, which showed over 15,000 close proximity events between helicopters and commercial aircraft at DCA between October 2021 and December 2024. The NTSB released thousands of documents, including new video from the end of the runway showing the crash, during the hearing. Federal investigators revealed that the pilots of a Black Hawk helicopter likely didn’t know how high they were flying or how close they were to an airliner before the deadly crash. The Army will be informing Army aviators of these discrepancies sometime around mid-September.
The NTSB chair criticized the FAA for causing a deadly DC crash, stating that 67 people were killed. Huong 608
