The deadly mid-air collision at Reagan Airport in January was years in the making, the operations manager of the DCA air traffic control tower on the night of the accident told the National Transportation Safety Board on Friday.
“I don’t think this accident occurred that night,” Clark Allen, the operations manager, said at the investigative hearing. “I think it happened years before we’ve talked about, you know, resources, whether they were available or unavailable at certain time frames, folks being listened to or not being listened to at certain times. This was not that evening. It was a combination over many years that I think that built up to that evening.”
The NTSB concluded three days of hearings late Friday, during which the agency’s investigators questioned officials from the Federal Aviation Administration, U.S. Army, American Airlines regional subsidiary PSA Airlines and other parties over January’s mid-air collision between an American Airlines regional jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter over Washington, D.C., that killed 67 people.
It was the nation’s first major commercial airline crash since 2009.
During the hearings, the NTSB was told that the Army helicopter never heard the command from the air traffic controller to “pass behind the CRJ” as the transmission was stepped on. It was also revealed that the plane’s pilots were not warned by the controller that there was a helicopter nearby or cleared to fly near the helicopter.
NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy also called out the FAA for not sharing a full list of who was working in the control tower the night of the crash until July 6, months after the accident.
Pilots likely didn’t know how high they were flying
The NTSB’s investigation found discrepancies in the altitude data shown on radio and barometric altimeters on Army helicopters after conducting test flights following January’s accident.
It is likely that the helicopter crew did not know their true altitude due to notoriously faulty altimeters inside this series of Black Hawks, according to the investigation. At their closest points, helicopters and planes flew within 75 feet of each other near DCA, an astonishingly close number. During the hearings, the NTSB was told Army Black Hawks can often have wrong readings and a margin of error of +-200 feet.
“I am concerned there is a possibility that what the crew saw was very different than what the true altitude was. We did testing in May that shows concerns with the altimeters, the barometric altimeters on the 60 Lima. So we are concerned, and it’s something we have to continue to investigate how significant is 100 feet in this circumstance,” Homendy told reporters on Wednesday.
Army officials told the NTSB investigators that they plan to inform other military aviation officials of the altitude discrepancy by September, but NTSB board member Todd Inman criticized this for a lack of urgency.
The Army officials said they are also addressing it by mentioning it in the public testimony.
“I hope every Army aviator is not having to watch the NTSB.gov livestream to figure out if there’s a discrepancy in their altitudes and planes that are flying around,” Inman said.
Disconnect between DCA controllers and FAA leadership
NTSB investigators and board members noted that there seems to be a “disconnect” between the information they are getting from the FAA officials versus what the employees have shared with them during the interviews.
“What we’re trying to understand is where the disconnect is because what we have is for example, reports from controllers today that are saying there were 10-15 loss of separation events since the accident,” Homendy said.
Tension in the tower
Chair Homendy noted air traffic controllers crying during interviews with investigators following the crash, adding the controller whose voice is heard talking to the doomed aircraft has not returned to work. Tensions have been so high in the tower following the crash, a shouting match turned into a fist fight this spring, ending with a controller being arrested.
Some employees say they feared getting transferred or fired if concerns were brought up to their superiors.
“I hundred percent agree with you. There definitely seems to be some barrier in communication where the people that impacts it the most are not hearing the things that the FAA is moving forward on and that needs to be addressed. I agree,” said Franklin McIntosh, acting chief operating officer of the Air Traffic Organization — the operation arm of the FAA.
“I wholeheartedly agree and I will commit to you and everyone on the board in the panel that I will start working this immediately to make sure whatever those barriers are occurring, that it stops,” McIntosh said. “Clearly someone in the facility doesn’t feel like they’re getting the help that they should be getting and quite honestly if that word’s not getting down, then we need to do a better job in breaking through whatever that barrier is.”
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The FAA has pushed back on claims of employees being removed or transferred out of the tower as a result of the collision.
“So we didn’t remove anybody as a result of an accident,” said Nick Fuller, acting deputy chief operating officer with the Air Traffic Organization.
Homendy challenged that assertion saying, “I think many would disagree, since it was done pretty immediately. Also the NTSB had to weigh in several times to get people help in the tower.”
NTSB investigators also pressed FAA officials over controllers who manage DCA airspace feeling pressured to “make it work” due to the large volume of aircraft in the airspace near the airport.
“We have many non-standard tools that we use in order to be able to bring a significant amount of airplanes into DCA, ” said Bryan Lehman, air traffic manager at the Potomac Terminal Radar Approach Control, which manages air traffic control in the region, while also adding that they do take “pride in it,” but that it gets too much after a certain point.
Lehman also testified at the hearing that controllers sent a memo to their superiors in 2023 requesting a lower arrival rate for airplanes, but the concerns were dismissed and Congress approved more flights for DCA.
ADSB policy for Army
Despite calls from lawmakers and the NTSB for mandated Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast (ADSB) — technology that makes the aircraft more visible to the tower, other aircraft and the public — on all aircraft, including military aircraft, it remains a point of hesitation for the Army.
All aircraft flying over 18,000 feet are required to have ADSB but certain aircraft, including military aircraft, are exempt from transmitting ADSB location when flying for security reasons.
“I’m pretty sure most people are aware of the fact that it’s inherently open source,” Army Lt. Col. Paul Flanigen told the hearing panel on Friday. “It has some spoofing vulnerabilities which make it non-conducive for those sensitive missions, which not just the army, but all of DOD has to operate on.”
As previously reported by ABC News, the helicopter involved in the accident was not transmitting ADSB out, meaning it wasn’t transmitting its location for other aircraft nearby to see where it was.
A Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) — which detects other aircraft in close proximity — was also not installed in the helicopter, according to the investigation.
The NTSB made a recommendation nearly two decades ago asking the FAA to require ADSB on all aircraft but it was not implemented. The point was brought up again during the hearings.
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“Does the FAA right now support requiring any newly manufactured aircraft registered in the U.S. be equipped with ADSB in?” Homendy asked.
McIntosh said yes and showed support towards requiring aircraft to be equipped with ADSB out as well.
Experts have said it’s more effective when an aircraft is equipped with both ADSB in and out so they can transmit their location and also receive the location of other aircraft in its near proximity.
A bill in Congress titled the “Rotor Act” was introduced earlier this week by Sen. Ted Cruz, which would require all aircraft, including military aircraft, to transmit ADSB location when flying. Notably, the newly appointed FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy were present at the news conference and showed their support towards the legislation.
The NTSB’s investigation into the cause of the accident continues and a final report is expected by January 2026.
“We do this to improve safety certainly but we all do this with each of you in mind and your loved ones that were lost tragically with you in mind not just on the CRJ but also PAT 25 so we will continue on and hope to complete this investigation within a year,” Homendy said in her closing remarks on Friday.
