The Federal Aviation Administration is planning to announce that it will reduce arrival at Washington Reagan National Airport in DC, after a fatal collision between a helicopter and a jet with American Airlines, 67 people killed.
The FAA told Airlines on Wednesday that the reduction of a maximum of 28 to 26 arrivals per hour would reduce future risks – but will also increase the average delays from 40 minutes to 50 minutes.
The e -mail, seen by Reuters, said that researchers from the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board have expressed concern for our tower staff who have an increased level of stress and at the same time have a representation of the first row of the recovery of the accident. '
The e -mail added that lowering the rate of 28 to 26 'will reduce the risk and enables a little room for extra coordination.'
Reagan National Airport is notoriously busy and the crossover in the air space between Jets and Helicopters is routine – but has had pilot problems for decades.
But since the catastrophe last week, aviation experts have raised an alarm about the dangerous airspace over Reagan International Airport, as they described last week's American Airlines as a disaster that waits. '
Data from the FAA discovered that there were more than 30 reports of 'near-Identaire Collisions' about the airport in 1987, with at least 10 with military planes, according to NPR.
Seven of these reports concerned military helicopters under cold similar circumstances such as the crash of the American Airlines on January 29 that caused the death of 67 people.
A fatal collision between a helicopter and a regional jet of the American Airlines killed 67 people last week (depicted: the wreck was removed from the Potomac River)
Questions were asked about how the collision – in which all 67 people involved were killed – took place, since pilots follow a strict protocol about the heights they can reach safely
Such an incident occurred just over 24 hours before the fatal collision, when a passenger jet was ordered to circling around Reagan National and to praise his landing again after being warned about a nearby military helicopter.
Retired US Army National Guard pilot Darrell Feller told ABC News this week that the American Airlines crash reminded him of a frightening incident ten years ago.
Feller said that he was driving a military helicopter along the Potomac River near Reagan Airport when an air traffic controller warned him about a passenger jet landing 3-3 -the same runway on which the American Airlines -Jet landed when this land crashed.
He remembered that DC's lights made it impossible to see the Jetliner, and he was forced to descend to only 50 ft across the river to ensure that he would be much lower than the passenger beam.
Feller theoretized similar circumstances may have led to the disaster of the American Airlines and reminded: “I couldn't see him, I lost him in the city lights … It scared me.”
The creepy similarities between Feller's report of his near-miss and the US airlines Crash-Echo warnings of air experts who say that the complex airspace above Reagan airport can be fault.
“This was a disaster that waited to happen,” Ross Aimer, a retired captain of United Airlines and Chief Executive Officer of Aero Consulting Experts, told ABC.
“Those of us who have been around for a long time are screaming in a vacuum that something like that would happen because our systems were stretched to extremes.”
Pieces of American Airlines Flight 5342 Restored from the Potomac River will be brought to the coast on 5 February during recovery efforts
Shown: Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and its control tower
This is after the authorities have confirmed that Black Hawk Army -helicopter in fact flew 100 feet too high when it crashed against the commercial plane.
The helicopter, flown by the 28-year-old captain Rebecca M. Lobach for a routine training exercise, flew 300 feet, but the maximum height allowed for helicopters in the area is 200 feet.
The Black Box data that was recovered from the Wrrak in the Potomac River had indicated that this situation was likely to take place, but the National Transport Safety Board was waiting for the data about air traffic control to confirm the large height.
Radar data is rounded to the nearest 100 feet, which means that the helicopter flew somewhere between 251 feet and 349 feet, the NTSB said.
In the meantime, the passenger plane was 325 feet at the time of the crash and it was tidy to land.
In the group of a second before the crash, the pilots of the plane have difficulty pulling the plane up in an attempt to avoid the oncoming helicopter.
“At one point very close to the impact, there was a small change in pitch, an increase in pitch,” said NTSB's Todd Inman in a press conference on Saturday evening.
There were no survivors on both flights and all 67 bodies have now been taken out of the water.
All 67 people – including children – were killed in the horrible disaster in DC
There were 60 passengers and four crews on board the flight of the American Airlines from Wichita, Kansas, while three soldiers were on the helicopter.
“This is a complex investigation,” said Brice Banning, NTSB researcher who is in charge. “There are many pieces here. Our team works hard to collect this data. '
Banning also discussed the last moments of the two black boxes of the Jet, which recorded sound in the cockpit and flight data.
“The crew had a verbal reaction,” said Banning, showing the data recorder, “the plane that began to increase its pitch.
“Sounds of Impact were audible about a second later, followed by the end of the recording.”
After the sensational disaster, President Donald Trump came out and Dei blamed the 'tragedy of terrible proportions'.
The supreme commander told the press conference last week that those who had flying with the Black Hawk -Helicopter 'should see where they were going'.
Trump said in the White House and said that the tragedy could be prevented completely when he hit diversity, shares and inclusion (dei) recruitment practices in federal agencies.
He added that he had some 'pretty good ideas' about how the disaster took place and promised to ensure that it would never happen again.
Trump then said that he had first put 'safety', while presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden gave priority to politics and former transport secretary Pete Buttigieg called a 'disaster' in an extraordinary attack on earlier administrations.
