Ronald Reagan airport

Tuesday

Andy Pasztor

Exclusive: FAA issues autopilot warning after major airline crashes

Federal aviation regulators have issued a stark safety warning to airline pilots: think twice before switching off autopilots and other computerized flight controls at the country's busiest airports. The Federal Aviation Administration’s alert cautioned pilots about the dangers of excessive reliance on their own manual flying and visual approaches in congested airspace. The bulletin, issued in response to hazards revealed by recent “notable and high visibility” commercial aviation accidents and harrowing close calls in the US, is couched in technical jargon and was largely overlooked by the national media when it was released in early April.

FAA

Thursday

Derek VanBuskirk

A miracle DC plane crash didn’t happen sooner, Senate hears

The first Senate hearing on the mid-air collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in January, which resulted in the loss of 67 lives, was held today. The conclusion: it was a miracle it didn’t happen sooner. Senator Jerry Moran, a Republican from Kansas and chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, reported that between October 21 and December 24, there were more than 1,500 “close-proximity” events between helicopters and commercial airplanes. It was just a matter of time before something terrible happened.

Friday

The Spectator

Plane crash tragedy exposes other close calls

Amid the tragedy of a deadly plane and helicopter crash at Washington, DC’s Ronald Reagan National Airport that has shaken the entire country, it’s becoming increasingly clear how many close calls have been avoided over the years — and that changes may be coming to the status quo.While it’s been almost two decades since the last major commercial airline crash in America, reports are beginning to emerge about how many near misses have happened, especially in DC’s busy airspace.Just days before an army helicopter collided with the plane coming in from Wichita, Kansas, several other planes had already aborted landings at Reagan due to helicopters in the way.

Ben Domenech

Media partisans weaponize plane crash tragedy

For the past several years, the air traffic I see out the windows of my office has been constant — a regularly occurring string of flights headed north up the Potomac toward Ronald Reagan International Airport, and others headed south after taking off. Yesterday morning was the first time I can remember seeing the skies utterly clear of traffic, as the ferry boats that normally take tourists and visitors from port to port along the river were instead repurposed as salvage vehicles for divers seeking out the remains of the passengers lost in the crash of American Eagle Flight 5342 and soldiers flying the Army Black Hawk it collided with a mere 400 feet above the water.