FAA Added More Flights to Reagan Airport Despite Collision Warnings

[Wicked Blue]

Newsweek
Published Jan 30, 2025 at 6:49 AM EST

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved additional flights at Reagan National Airport months before a collision between an American Airlines plane and a military helicopter in Washington D.C. on Wednesday that killed at least 19 people.

Before the additional flights were approved, Senator Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat, warned that the increase could heighten the risk of accidents.

***(snip)

Wednesday's collision was the first major U.S. commercial air crash since February 2009. Following the incident, which killed at least 19 people, questions have been raised over what caused it and if it could have been prevented.

In May 2024, an FAA reauthorization bill added five slots to Reagan Airport's daily schedule.

https://www.newsweek.com/reagan-airport-more-flights-collision-warning-2023389

[Dennis Donovan]

1. Kaine was prescient! From the same article:

/snip/

As Congress considered the bill, Kaine warned of the potential for collisions if more flights were approved for the already overburdened airport.

"God forbid waking up and looking in a mirror one day and say, 'Wow, I was warned. I was warned and I shouldn't have done this,'" Kaine told reporters last year.

"You're going to do it to convenience a few dozen members [of Congress] (...) at the expense of everybody who lives around this airport who would potentially be victimized if there was some kind of a collision," Kaine continued.

"You're also increasing a safety risk because when you have one plane taking off or landing every minute, while other planes are circling, especially in very constricted air space, like DC's airspace, you run the risk of serious challenge. When you hear an air traffic controller having to shout 'stop, stop' to get two jets trying to use this main runway to stop within 300 feet of each other. This is a flashing, red warning sign telling everyone that this airport is already overburdened and you shouldn't do more."

But despite Kaine's concerns, the bill received bipartisan support and was signed into law.

/snip

[Wicked Blue]

2. Thank you for adding this nt

[underpants]

3. Tim isn't holding back

Not that he ever really did. He laid it all out the other night about the resignation offer from Trump.

[Renew Deal]

4. I don't understand why they need to run training flights in this area

I know the area is militarily important but it seems avoidable.

[PurgedVoter]

10. If this was a helicopter for VIP's then training does not quite pass the smell test.

The nature of the helicopter seems to have shifted several times. This could always be reporters or the chaos of early reporting, but the military generally knows what a military vehicle is.

My wild guess, is that if it is a VIP helicopter someone loud wanted to go somewhere and wanted the helicopter to show up faster than ASAP. A screaming self important fascist not wanting to wait seems likely enough to me.

I only know a little more than Trump does in this case. The reason I say I know more than Trump does is that I am not surrounded by yes men and I am capable of listening and reading.

[Renew Deal]

11. So are you saying they are hiding victims?

The military said last night that there were no VIP's and only 3 soldiers. You claim to know more. Were they lying? Can you prove it?

[karynnj]

12. One way to interpret the comment is that the helicopter was COMING

to take the VIP somewhere before it crashed.

I know nothing about helicopters, planes or air traffic control.

[Renew Deal]

13. It was reported as an "annual proficiency training flight."

The Black Hawk helicopter that collided with a passenger plane on Wednesday night was on an annual proficiency training flight, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Thursday.

The Pentagon is withholding names and ranks of the crew members until next of kin are notified, Hegseth said, but “it was a fairly experienced crew that was doing an annual required night evaluation. They did have night vision goggles.”

https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/plane-crash-dca-potomac-washington-dc-01-29-25#cm6jfxufg00003b6mqrv57zrj

Are you saying that they're lying?

[karynnj]

16. No. I had not read that.

[PurgedVoter]

31. I did not claim to know anything

I also did not say that VIP's were on the plane. Read it again and seriously chill out. I don't know anything yet, I was reacting to statements that seemed contradictory as they came out.

The current explanation was this was a routine test. That seems okay but it still leads to my current question.

My current question is, "Why was the helicopter in the direct path where civilian flights land and take off?"

In my past experience from being on planes and driving past airports, these paths are very well marked. From my tiny experience flying and being in private planes, typically, no one is cleared for those areas unless they are given direct and specific instructions allowing them to.

[dalton99a]

18. +1

[RockRaven]

5. People rationalize each decision with "this doesn't change the risk much if at all"

while ignoring hundreds of other such decisions have already been made, and the avoidable danger really adds up fast.

[wishstar]

6. My impression as a passenger was that it was the most congested airport of all my travels

and I only flew through there twice over 10 years ago but it made a lasting impression of having too many flights and passengers crammed close together in too small of a space. Can't imagine how much worse it is now with huge traffic uptick since Covid eased.

[NCDem47]

7. And the approach is like landing on an aircraft carrier!

Tight low turns onto a short runway. It's a ride.

[intheflow]

8. I hate to say it, but I think Biden owns this as much as Trump.

Trump fired FAA investigators but Biden signed the order allowing more planes in an already tight airspace, with the support of more Democratic congress members than Republican. That had much more of an impact on day to day operations than firing people whose job is to investigate accidents after they happen.

List of people who voted for adding flights here: https://www.newsweek.com/lawmakers-voted-increase-flights-reagan-airport-crash-2023484

Edited to add, I’d be delighted to learn that it’s more about Trump’s actions, if it turns out to be true. I’m just voicing an opinion in the void at this point.

[John1956PA]

9. Yes, the daily capacity was increased by five round-trip flights. n/t

[lostnfound]

14. Disagree. It's not Biden's job to veto an FAA reauthorization act.

Hard enough just getting congress to fund the government.

[Jose Garcia]

32. President Obama vetoed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016

https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/1735

[uponit7771]

15. Nope, Enron Musk first head of FAA ...

Enron Musk fires head of FAA

https://www.yahoo.com/news/faa-administrator-quit-jan-20-045322293.html?guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAM-CsdEnFVCkRdDo1nrkJdUjfkcwBXF_91DTOrjNS-DOpok-WQyeD1-nxIvrDaykkWqNNQrUnAw2nOoImMO_tB2ZOhNsDDVH7N1FkuX0DyWLWQceOl3HlXZQzS7ImDFqnh7N15O9gAbuTZ2l90gTGnOExcoXTKjcF7JEiUrRPHsg

Also, according to MAGA logic anything that happens in a next admin is exclusively the fault of said admin in isolation.

I'm kicking that article to make sure Benedict Donald gets all the heat his way on this shit

[intheflow]

19. Musk didn't fire anyone.

He threatened to have the guy fired and the guy quit. Meanwhile, you seem to think the head of the FAA sits in all the air traffic control towers at every airport personally overseeing all the air traffic controllers? Even if he was still in place, he would have been home when this happened.

If it turns out they had fewer air traffic controllers because of Trump’s hiring freeze, that’s different. Otherwise, it was an accident that was forewarned for years due to excessive air traffic, a warning that many Dems brushed off as inconvenient or innocuous (“It’s only 5 more flights a day…”). This was an equal opportunity accident with plenty of blame to go around.

[uponit7771]

20. same effect, Enron Musk was involved with the US having no head of FAA ... I'm not removing his name from the issue caus

... of semantics

[MarineCombatEngineer]

21. He did fire him in an indirect way because he knew that Been A Dick Donald had his back,

so your assertion that he didn't fire him falls flat on it's face.

[B.See]

27. Plenty of blame to go around but

so far you've only mentioned Democrats?

[yardwork]

23. Pete strongly disagrees.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219965580

[Lulu KC]

24. Yes, I saw that

But from the info officials have released so far, it does not seem to be related to a traffic jam of planes. I have heard the following, which I am taking as factual:
1. Air traffic controller was doing job of two people. (Thank you, Ronald Reagan.)
2. ATC directed helicopter to go behind the American jet.
3. ATC also gave jet last minute direction to change landing strip--but the result of that isn't clear. Was it too late to change direction, and was the helicopter already in its path?
4. Helicopter was a training flight with "fairly experienced pilots."

I am seeing the approval of more flights into DCA as being a related but not directly responsible reason for this crash.

Just my two cents.

[DetroitLegalBeagle]

25. Kinda what I am thinking as well

The root cause will likely be what it is for most aviation accidents, pilot error. Whether its the jet's or the helicopter's, i don't know. But my assumption is the helicopter's.

[Lulu KC]

26. That's my thought

I am so hoping it was not the woman who was one of the helicopter pilots or a person of color, but since DT will be blaming “DEI” no matter what happens, it doesn’t matter in the world of craziness.

I saw some newly appointed (by DT) guy saying they are thinking of moving training exercises out of the DCA flight path. An actual genius, relatively speaking!

[B.See]

28. In MAGA'S alternate reality, anything

going wrong is because of DEI (translation: Black people, women, and anyone else NOT a white male.)

[Lulu KC]

29. Yup

It’s his catch all.

[B.See]

30. It gets his rabid LEMMINGS looking

at everyone BUT HIM.

[yardwork]

22. Pete says nope.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219965580