"One year ago, on January 29, 2025, two Army pilots strapped into a Black Hawk helicopter for a training mission out of Fort Belvoir in eastern Virginia and, two hours later, flew it into an airliner that was approaching Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, killing all 67 aboard both aircraft. It was the deadliest air disaster in the United States in a quarter-century."
"In the months that followed, major media outlets probed several real-world factors that contributed to the tragedy, including staffing shortages at FAA towers, an excess of traffic in the D.C. airspace, and the failure of the Black Hawk to broadcast its location over ADS-B - an automatic reporting system - before the collision."
On January 29, 2025, a Black Hawk helicopter collided with a passenger airliner approaching Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, killing all 67 people aboard both aircraft. The newly seated U.S. president publicly blamed the FAA's diversity-equity-inclusion policies for the accident, claiming a directive prioritized race over competence. Media examinations identified staffing shortages at FAA towers, heavy traffic in the D.C. airspace, and the Black Hawk's failure to broadcast its position via ADS-B as contributing factors. The Senate passed the bipartisan ROTOR Act to require ADS-B on all aircraft. The NTSB recommended operational and oversight changes and criticized FAA standards. Questions remain about the helicopter mission purpose and pilot competence under adverse conditions.
Read at Intelligencer
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