‘Something was missed’ at Reagan National Airport. What experts have to say about one of the country’s busiest airports

Washington, DC (CNN) — When senators grilled the Federal Aviation Administration last week about how the agency could have let the high number of close calls between helicopters and commercial jetliners occur at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, the acting head of the FAA replied, “Something was missed.”

That thought came “too little, too late,” according to Dailey Crafton, who was in attendance. In January, his brother was among 67 people killed when an American Airlines regional jet landing at the airport collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River.

The National Transportation Safety Board later uncovered 15,214 “near miss events” at the airport between 2021 and 2024, where aircraft were within one nautical mile of each other, with a vertical separation of less than 400 feet. There were also 85 cases where aircraft were much closer - less than 1,500 feet apart, with a vertical separation of less than 200 feet, according to the NTSB.

“There were a number of reports that came in, and we investigate every single near midair collision,” said Chris Rocheleau, acting FAA administrator in the hearing on the collision. “We have teams that go out and assess the airspace itself.”

The “overburdened” Reagan National Airport, which sits on a total of 860 acres, has long been one of the nation’s busiest airports, according to the Coalition to Protect America’s Regional Airports. It served 25.5 million passengers in 2023, more than its much larger counterpart Dulles International Airport, which served 25.1 million.

Reagan National Airport’s main runway is the busiest runway in the country, with over 800 daily takeoffs and landings, according to the Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority. The airport has 58 total gates and three runways.

It’s increasingly complicated by restricted airspace and government buildings. The White House is about two miles from the end of a runway, which forces planes to fly curved approaches and departures.

“They could’ve resolved this years ago,” said Allen Campbell, who flew with Delta Air Lines and the military for nearly 40 years. “If you think of most of the major airports in America, Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami – you’re not going to get helicopters flying within five miles of that airport without some really significant clearance. So, Ronald Reagan, I think, has just abused that operation for years. It’s hit them in the face, and I think now they’re going to have to fix it.”

Flying around DC, pilots are aware of all of the restrictions, Campbell said. He believes the airport is “mismanaged.”

A veteran pilot, Darrell Feller flew helicopters around the airport near the nation’s capital multiple times, first when he worked for the National Guard, then with US Customs and Border Protection. He also, separately, spent time flying airplanes for Alaska Airlines.

Feller recalled an incident while he was flying a helicopter south on the same route the Black Hawk was on that dreadful day in January. A commercial jet was landing on Runway 33 at Reagan Airport at the same time.

“We had a little more separation than this incident at DCA, but I could not see that airliner,” Feller said. “It got lost in the city lights there. I couldn’t see it. I knew it was there, and so I slowed down. I descended a little lower.”

It made Feller “a lot more cautious,” as a pilot.

Since the collision on January 29, the NTSB issued an urgent recommendation to restrict helicopter traffic at the airport. The FAA adopted that recommendation shortly after. However, those restrictions may not be enough as the airport continues to see more safety-related issues.

A string of incidents

There hadn’t been a deadly commercial air crash in the US since 2009, however, the fatal midair collision in January heightened concern about the crowded DC airport.

In February, about a month after the midair collision, an American Airlines flight arriving at Reagan National Airport was forced to abort its landing to avoid another aircraft. A “go-around” was performed to “ensure separation was maintained between this aircraft and a preceding departure from the same runway,” the FAA told CNN.

Although go-arounds are performed often, the incident heightened the attention to the airport’s airspace.

At the 30 US airports with the highest number of operations – a group that includes Reagan National – go-arounds accounted for about 0.39% of arrivals in fiscal year 2023, according to the FAA.

Mysterious collision warnings in commercial jets landing at Reagan were also reported around March 1 and occurred only miles from the site of the January accident.

Several flight crews reported the mystery alerts on their Traffic Collision Avoidance System, known as TCAS, “indicating another aircraft was nearby when no other aircraft were in the area,” the FAA said in a statement at the time.

At the hearing on the midair collision last week, the FAA confirmed these warnings were caused by testing of an anti-drone system by the US Navy and Secret Service.

To add to the incidents at Reagan National Airport, an air traffic controller was arrested for assault and battery on Thursday after an “incident” in the control tower, according to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. The 39-year-old controller was put on administrative leave while the FAA investigates, the agency told CNN.

“Apparently, the Navy was using the same spectrum band as TCAS, causing the interference and faulty resolution advisories,” Sen. Ted Cruz said during the hearing. “Even though the FAA had previously warned the Navy and the Secret Service against using that specific spectrum band due to interference risks.”

Another close call this past week has prompted investigations from both the FAA and NTSB.

On Friday, collision warnings sounded inside the cockpit of a Delta Air Lines aircraft taking off from the airport when a flight of military training jets sped past.

The four US Air Force T-38 Talons were inbound to Arlington National Cemetery for a flyover, the FAA said in a statement.

A preliminary report on the incident will be issued within 30 days.

A kite also struck a United Airlines flight from Houston to Washington Saturday. The plane was undamaged and landed safely, according to United.

Law enforcement located kites flying at Gravelly Point, a park a few hundred feet away from the north end of the airport’s runway.

A time for change

Some pilots, like Campbell, believe the airport’s issues could have been resolved a lot sooner.

The congestion remains an issue at Reagan National Airport, according to Phillip Ansell, an associate professor at the Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois. He said because of rapid growth air traffic nearly doubles every 15 to 20 years.

Reagan National Airport also deals with a “slot rule” created by the FAA, where take offs and landings must be scheduled in advance to reduce congestion. However, that rule has since changed. Last year, Congress approved more long-haul flights at the airport.

In March, Reagan National Airport had over 26,000 flights in and out scheduled – noting the uptick for the area’s highly popular cherry blossom season, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium. That’s approximately over 2.7 million seats available for passengers.

“When it comes to runways at airports, we’re bursting at the seams,” he said.

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