An Army Black Hawk helicopter reportedly nearly crashed into two separate airliners at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, the site of a deadly crash between a military helicopter and an airliner in January, last week after its pilot took “the scenic route” to the Pentagon, authorities confirmed via the New York Post.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy referred to the incident, which took place last Thursday (May 1), as “unacceptable.” Two commercial planes, a Delta Flight 1671 and Republic Flight 5825, were both set to land when they were rerouted due to the proximity of the helicopter, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement addressing the incident.
Both flights were less than two miles from the runway and on their final approach at around 2:30 p.m. local time. The helicopter was reported to have taken “a scenic route around the Pentagon versus proceeding directly from the west to the heliport,” Federal Aviation Administration administrator for government and industry affairs Chris Senn said in a statement obtained by Politico on Friday (May 2).
The helicopter was reported to have been estimated to have been between 200 and 2,100 feet from the Republic flight and 400 to 2,600 feet from the Delta plane, according to Senn. The incident was reported just months after a deadly mid-air collision between a Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines jet, which resulted in the deaths of all 67 people involved.
“It is outrageous that only three months after an Army Black Hawk helicopter tragically collided with a passenger jet, the same Army brigade again flew a helicopter too close to passenger jets on final approach,” Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) told Politico.
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