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The scene is still remembered for the unlikely. On January 29, a mobile camera recorded what seemed unthinkable. In the middle of the night, on the Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, a military Black Hawk helicopter approached until face a plane American Airlines Commercial. 67 people died becoming the most deadly plane crash in the United States since 2001. It has now been known that the danger was much greater.
Dead line and silence. The American media They have launched A news shocking. For more than three years, a direct (and criticism) communication line between the air controllers of the Reagan National Airport and the Pentagon Heliport Tower has remained completely inoperativea without the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to know. This disconnection, confirmed by A senior FAA official Before the Senate, it came to light only after an incident that occurred on May 1, when two commercial planes were forced to abort their landing due to the presence of an army helicopter that flew in circles on the Pentagon.
The line, managed by the Department of Defense, had disconnected in March 2022 And it was not detected until after the event, which reveals an alarming lack of coordination between the agencies responsible for the most restricted and sensitive airs He left 67 dead.
Bureaucratic clashes. What’s doubt, the finding has unleashed visible tensions Between the FAA and the Department of Defense, with mutual accusations on whom it breaches the security protocols. While the Secretary of Transportation has pointed out violations by the military, they insist that they have respected the current restrictions. In the Senate, figures like Tammy Duckworth, former Black Hawk pilot, and Dan Sullivan expressed their outrage at the Lack of clear answers and the apparent institutional passivity.
The commission listened to how the airport drivers, both the day of the January accident and in the recent May incident, assumed multiple functions simultaneouslya practice that increases the workload and reduces operational safety margins. FAA’s own air traffic deputy director, Franklin Mcintosh, acknowledged that the agency He did not know that the line was dropped and that it should have detected it much earlier.
A chain of failures. Apparently, after the January accident, the FAA restricted the routes Helicopters near the airport, but military, police and doctors flights have continued to operate, causing more conflicts with commercial traffic. According to McIntoshthe agency came to suspend the agreement that allows military helicopters to fly without prior authorization from FAA, but the army announced on its own the suspension of flights to the Pentagon while reviewing their procedures.
The problem? That the May incident showed that the problems persistand that the army continues to operate on compromised routes without full coordination. The lack of transparency by the army, referring to the sensitive nature of its missions, has hindered supervision efforts, and former NTSB researchers and FAA warn that this opacity It is no longer sustainable Under the current scrutiny.
Errors and more errors. Explained the post That the situation in the Washington area is not an isolated case. During the same audience, the Senate also addressed the technical and personnel problems at Newark airport, which has suffered days of delays due to lack of controllers and unreliable technology. Despite the statements of the Secretary of Transportation ensuring that the airport is safe, it transpired that He diverted a flight from his wife In Laguardia, which sowed doubts about the confidence in air infrastructure.
But there is much more. Fortune told that a commercial flight had to perform an evasive maneuver after approaching dangerously Four military fighters that were directed to a ceremonial act in Arlington, and all because of a coordination error between regional controllers and the Reagan tower. In total, at least have been registered 85 quasi collisions In that same airspace during the three years prior to the January clash, a figure that should have activated at least institutional alarms much earlier.
A system under pressure. In summary, the prolonged disconnection of a critical line between two maximum risk facilities, combined with the slowness in institutional responses and the fragmentation of the command between civilians and military, seem to evidence A system under stresswhose fissures, as has already happened In JanuaryThey may have mortal consequences if urgent measures are not taken. That direct line between the Pentagon and Reagan became, by omission, in symbol of a fractured command chain.
That without having something that many means of the country also pose: the fact that on the most powerful capital in the world, in a scenario of growing tension like the current one, it continues to depend on ordinary telephones to avoid another air tragedy.
Image | Bigbirdz
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