The Federal Aviation Administration issued a ground stop at Ronald Reagan Airport on Monday, just weeks after deadly mid-air collision.
The National Airspace System Status board listed a ground stop at the Washington, DC airport from 3:15 p.m. ET to 4:30 p.m. for reasons listed as ‘due to other.’
The delay comes two days after the agency permanently banned helicopters from flying on the same route where a passenger jet and an Army helicopter collided in midair, killing 67 people in January.
Federal investigators looking into the cause of the crash recommended a ban on some helicopter flights, saying a string of near misses in recent years showed that the current setup ‘poses an intolerable risk.’
As part of a preliminary report released on Tuesday, investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board raised concerns of more collisions involving helicopters at the airport.
NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said: ‘We remain concerned about the significant potential for future mid-air collision at DCA.’
Reagan National has been understaffed for many years, with just 19 fully certified controllers as of September 2023 – well below the target of 30 – according to the most recent Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan submitted to Congress.
The situation appeared to have improved since then, as a source told CNN the Reagan National control tower was 85 percent staffed with 24 of 28 positions filled.
The Federal Aviation Administration issued a ground stop at Ronald Reagan Airport on Monday
Chronic understaffing at air traffic control towers is nothing new, with well-known causes including high turnover and budget cuts.
In order to fill the gaps, controllers are frequently asked to work 10-hour days, six days a week.
The Army has said the Black Hawk crew was highly experienced, and accustomed to the crowded skies around the nation’s capital.
At the time of the collision, a single air traffic controller was simultaneously monitoring both the helicopter and plane traffic.
A near-miss resembling the tragedy also happened in 2021. It involved Air Force jets, a Marine helicopter typically used to transport the vice president and a commercial plane.
The FAA launched a probe into the airport’s tower staffing at the time, later determining that there was only one air traffic controller managing helicopters the departures and the arrivals of planes.
The 2021 investigation revealed that some controllers were paid for full shifts even when they weren’t working – a practice commonly known in the industry as an ‘early shove.’
Early shoves are considered an informal benefit, permitting controllers to leave when air traffic slows.
The agency permanently banned helicopters from flying on the same route where a passenger jet and an Army helicopter collided in midair, killing 67 people
The American Airlines Washington, DC crash marked the deadliest US air disaster in 24 years
The American Airlines Washington, DC crash marked the deadliest US air disaster in 24 years, and the first major US commercial passenger flight crash in more than 15 years, following the Colgan Air Flight crash in 2009.
Less than a month later, on February 17, a Delta passenger plane crashed-landed upside down in chaotic scenes at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada.
Miraculously, everyone on board survived after being suspended upside-down by their seatbelts for several minutes until they tentatively began evacuating.
The plane had been heading to Toronto from Minneapolis – Saint Paul International Airport with 76 passengers and four crew members on board.
Some 21 people were taken to the hospital for treatment to minor injuries, and Delta has offered each person a no-strings $30,000 payout in compensation
