Search emergency units The crash site of the American Airlines aircraft on the Potomac River, after the aircraft collapsed on the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on January 29, 2025 in Washington, DC (photo of Kayla Bartkowski/Getty).
The US army and the Federal Aviation Administration continued to allow some flights near an airport in Washington, the airport in Washington, with a location communication system, even after the lack of this system to collision in January, 67 people were killed. Officials said on Thursday in a hearing of the US Senate hearing process.
Chris Rocheleau, the reigning FAA administrator, informed the sub -committee for trade, science and transport, space and innovation of the Senate that he ordered all flights in the airspace of the National Airport of Ronald Reagan Washington with a certain aircraft tracking system.
But there was such an order by Thursday, said Rocheleau to storm some leading committee members.
The system, which is called automatically dependent monitoring broadcast or ADS-B, automatically sends the location of an aircraft to other nearby pilots once per second. The system from outgoing signals is called ADS-B Out and the possibility of obtaining the signals is called ADS-B in.
The US army continues to allow flights with ADS-B, even in the area around the airport based in Virginia, which serves the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia, also known as DCA, said the US Army General Matthew Braman, the director of the army air trip, compared to the panel.
“I have to say that I find it shocking and deeply unacceptable,” said Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican in Texas, to Braman.
“And now I would like to encourage the army to rethink this policy and to rethink this policy again today,” continued Cruz. “If the army does not decide this, I have a high degree of confidence that the congress passes the legislation that prescribes that you will visit politics again. If another accident takes place via DCA with another helicopter, the ADS B, the army will be very directly responsible, and I am extinguished to risk the risk of the risk of life, the life of Travel bus track of the coach track. “
Rocheleau said he made a requirement on Thursday to request all flights near the DCA, including military flights, to be involved in AdS B.
ADS-B is considered much more precise than the classic radar that broadcasts once every four to six seconds, said Jennifer Homendy, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board.
The ruined democrat of the full committee, Maria Cantwell from Washington, did not seem to know that Rocheleau had raised the need for the requirement, and questioned his treatment of the problem.
“Introducing administrator, they do not build confidence in this supervisory system of the FAA,” she said.
She found that several government agencies and departments, including the Ministry of Homeland Security, had applied for exceptions to keep their security systems away.
Rocheleau said that the FAA had a memorandum of understanding with other Federal Luface users that they had to exploit the security system, even though Cantwell found that this was not legally enforceable.
“Incredible risk”
Several factors carried The fatal collision January 29th Homendy said Homendy of a trade jet of American Airlines about the Potomac River. 64 people died on the regional jet, together with three in the Black Hawk.
But the helicopter’s approved flight path, which did not leave a margin for mistakes, showed an “unbearable risk of flying safety,” she said.
The chairman of the subcommittee, Jerry Moran, a Republican in Kansas, said that the FAA had ignored warning signs for years.
There was no month over a period of 13 years, in which no “close call” between a helicopter and a commercial jet contained the DCA, said Moran.
He added that in just more than three years, from October 2021 to December 2024, between a helicopter and a commercial Jet gave 15,000 “immediate proximity events”.
“I would like to know how with these statistics in the FAA files before January 29, the agency at Reagan National Airport did not improve,” he said.
The American Airlines flight tries to land at DCA Received by Wichita, Kansas, and Moran, the hearing opened with recognition of lost life.
“Seven and sixty lives that were lost on January 29 were taken prematurely in an accident in which all signs should be avoided,” he said.
The collision was the first catastrophe of President Donald Trump’s second term and came only two days after the Senate confirmed the former MP of Wisconsin Sean Duffy as a transport secretary.
It was the deadliest aircraft crash in the Washington area since 1982 when a Florida flight fell into the Potomac River and killed 78 people.
transparency
Homendy also informed the panel that their agency had problems to obtain records and even fundamental information from a working group for helicopter safety in the DC area.
The army is also a member of this working group, said Braman.
“Can I please say that there is a DC helicopter working group that we wanted to find out who is part of the working group to get minutes and get documents from this working group to see what information was shared and what has been discussed over the years, and we could not achieve it yet,” said Homeendy.
She added that she wanted to check how the flight schedule was approved.
Rocheleau said he would work to find out why the NTSB had problems with the records.
In a statement, the law firm, which represents some families of the families killed in the crash, called for more transparency from the agencies involved.
Rocheleau and Braman “were less than upcoming for the American public and did their best to disguise the information provided by the committee,” says Clifford Law Offices. “She took no responsibility and accountability for this unnecessary tragedy and the thousands of other disadvantageous experiences that could have led to additional disasters.”
