Cantwell Grills Aviation Safety Heads on Near-Misses Before Fatal DCA Collision: ‘Why Did the FAA Not Act?’
NTSB preliminary crash report shows that in the 3-year period leading up to January collision, commercial planes flew within 400 feet of helicopters 15,000+ times; Cantwell on CNN this morning: Turning off live location transmitting for military helicopters “was a loophole that, in my opinion, should never have been given”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, grilled Acting Federal Aviation Administrator Chris Rocheleau, National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy, and Director of Army Aviation Brigadier General Matt Braman on the cause of the Jan. 29 collision between a commercial flight and a military helicopter near Ronald Reagan National Airport that killed 67 people.
“As we seek answers, the NTSB’s preliminary report has alarming facts. First, in the three-year period leading up to the collision, commercial airplane and helicopters got within 400 feet of each other on 15,214 occasions, within 200 feet on 85 occasions. FAA’s air traffic managers approve helicopter route charts annually, so if the data raised questions about the safety of these routes, the ball clearly falls into the FAA’s court as to whether to act on this data or make changes where the helicopters can fly in DCA,” Sen. Cantwell said.
“Acting Administrator Rocheleau, I want to know: Why did the FAA not act on 15,000 reports of dangerous proximity? How were these helicopter routes allowed to remain when alarm bells were literally going off in the towers? This lack of oversight must change.”
READ MORE:
The Washington Post: Senators grill FAA chief on missed warning signs before deadly crash
Reuters: US senators blast FAA for failing to act earlier on helicopters near airplanes
Ahead of this morning’s hearing, Sen. Cantwell joined CNN’s Kate Bolduan to discuss the findings of the NTSB and the need for more oversight at the FAA.
“I think we do have a lot of data at the FAA. I just don't know that anybody is paying close attention to it. But this was a loophole that, in my opinion, should never have been given. And once the loophole was given, then people should have monitored the situation,” Sen. Cantwell said on CNN.
That interview can be watched in full HERE.
The Black Hawk helicopter involved in the Jan. 29 was not transmitting Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) Out. ADS-B Out is a crucial safety feature that, when activated, automatically sends a beacon out from an operating flight to provide air traffic control towers a picture of an aircraft's precise location without relying solely on radar.
In 2010, FAA under the Obama Administration issued a rule to require all aircraft equipped with ADS-B Out to operate in “transmit mode” at all times. But in 2019, shortly before that rule went into effect, the first Trump Administration created an exemption for “sensitive operations conducted by Federal, State and local government entities in matters of national defense, homeland security, intelligence and law enforcement,” with the caveat that exemptions “will not be routinely used.” Then, in a June 2023 letter to D.C. Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton, the Department of Defense (DOD) stated that in the National Capital Region, “the Army Aviation Brigade at Fort Belvoir and Marine Helicopter Squadron One execute 100 percent of their missions with the ADS-B off.”
During a Q&A portion of today’s hearing, Sen. Cantwell pressed Acting Administrator Rocheleau on the inconsistent policies around ADS-B Out usage.
“Acting Administrator, you're not building faith in this system of oversight of the FAA,” she said. “These poor families have lost loved ones! This is not their day job. It is your day job.”
Earlier this month, Sen. Cantwell sent a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth requesting that the DOD clarify how often and why it operates aircraft in the National Capital Region without ADS-B Out activated. Secretary Hegseth has not substantively responded. Instead, today – nearly three weeks after Sen. Cantwell sent the letter and as the hearing was nearly over – a lower-level DOD official sent a short letter acknowledging her letter. That response said DOD “anticipates providing a response by [the] end of May 2025,” yet another two months from now and four months after the accident.
Video of Sen. Cantwell’s opening remarks in today’s hearing is available HERE; video of her first round of Q&A is HERE; video of her second round of Q&A is HERE; and a transcript is HERE.
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