According to an internal preliminary Federal Aviation Administration ( FAA ) safety report regarding the collision between an Army Black Hawk helicopter and a passenger jet at Ronald Reagan National Airport, staffing at the air traffic control tower was” not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic.”
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One air traffic controller ( ATC ) was then required to handle both helicopters and planes, a task that two controllers typically did.  ,
The ATC would also use unique radio frequencies to communicate with the plane and the aircraft, which would double the load for the joystick. The two models of aircraft may not be able to discover one another while the controller is conversing with the aircraft of the aircraft and aircraft, according to the New York Times.
Reagan or any other air traffic control tower in the United States have zero new staffing shortages, and the work is terrible, with up to ten hours of work per day, six days a year. Turnover is great.  ,
The building at Reagan National is about 30 % overworked. Airports lost air traffic control staffing nationwide by 9 % between 2011 and 2023, according to the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, while flights increased during that time.
” It’s no different than driving the vehicle down the road, if you sit there and try to travel, staring at your speed. Make sure you don’t tear the rate limit”, said Michael Julius, an air traffic control professor at Lewis University. “You’re not going to discover what’s in front of you. You must raise your head. You got to be out the windows. You got to use your systems properly”.
Washington, D. C.’s packed aircraft has elicited instructions for centuries.
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The airport’s comfort and close contact to the Capitol have made it attractive to Washington’s officials. Legislators have fought for more flights and opened exposure over the years, frequently to make quick trips to their home state easier. Next year, after a furious debate over whether the aircraft could digest more airlines, Congress authorized more, which were awarded to five flights proposing to travel to San Antonio, San Diego, Seattle, Las Vegas and San Francisco.
Every day, many of the helicopters that fly from the Pentagon and various government agencies are military planes, adding to the crowded aircraft that flow through Washington.
Officers and commercial and military aircraft have warned that the airport has a small margin for error.  ,
According to Keith Meurlin, head of the Washington Airports Task Force,” we’re dealing with an exceptionally complex aircraft program that has been complicated even more by the addition of planes to National Airport.” ” At what point is enough enough” ? ,
For 40 years, there has been chat in the internet and in Congress about closing down what was then Washington National Airport and settling for Dulles’s expansive, cutting-edge airport facility.  ,
Forty-three years earlier, another helicopter crashed into the Potomac, precipitating calling to close the aircraft for fine. After clipping the 14th Street bridge, an Air Florida airfare to Fort Lauderdale lost pull because of the snow on the arms. 74 folks on the planes were killed, and just five of those were saved from that icy water.
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On life television, the 1982 people ‘ recovery took place.
When it hit the 14th fr bridge and crashed in the Potomac on January 13, 1982, Air Florida Flight 90 from Washington Reagan was traveling toward Fort Lauderdale. It was carrying 79 beings. One team member and four people were saved from the collision. RIP photograph. twitter.com/6SGjIwGqIz— PhotographicFloridian ( @JackLinFLL ) January 30, 2025
Politicians does not permit the closure of the Reagan National. Our busy politicians find it to be too easy to ignore.
However, the odds of an accident happening again in the active D. C. atmosphere corridor are quite large.
