Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport has the busiest runaway in the United States and has an average of 819 per day. This is likely to have contributed by experts to the catastrophe on Wednesday.
According to the 2023 report, the airport is also known as a DCA. Until Alexandria Times。
It is close to the other two airports, including international Washing tondales and various military bases that launch a large amount of aircraft, creating a crowded aircraft with important accuracy.
“DCA is one of the most severe airports in the world, and some are known as the” helicopter roadside “where hundreds of police, troops, news, and rescue helicopters inters the Potmax River. I told the post.
Everyone died due to a clash between Wednesday's military helicopter and three soldiers and 64 commercial jets on land.
According to the first Federal Aviation Bureau's report, one air traffic controller was working at the time at the time. We handle both helicopter traffic and plane landing.
The New York Times acknowledged that the personnel arrangement was not normal between the timing and traffic. They had only 19 completely certified controllers in September 2023, but this is the third largest than the target set by FAA.
“DC AirSpace is very unique,” said Henry Harteveldt, president and travel industry analyst at the Atmosphere Research Group, quoting the airports near the military operations.
“Reagan National was built in the 1930s as the original airport of DC. Commercial aircraft and military aircraft share the airspace. Is added.
In May 2024, there was almost a collision between the American Airlines jet and the DCA small airplane, and in April 2024, there was almost another bang between the southwest and the jet blue plane.
HARTEVELDT believes that Reagan believes that it is partially due to the fact that there is a runway structure that is no longer used at modern airports. We have a runway that crosses each other. “
The unstable situation is worse because the main runway at the airport is half the standard (7,000 feet, not 13,000), which is a compact scheduling for takeoff and landing.
Nevertheless, in 2024, Congress allowed the airport to increase the number of flights from DCA.
“Two months ago, I spent time at the DCA air traffic control tower,” said Don Beyer (D-Va) to Alexandria Times in August 2023. I looked directly at how short and busy on the runway.
“DCA is designed to support 14 million traffic a year. Last year, 25 million passengers passed the DCA.”
According to analysis of the busiest runway in 2023, the main runway in Ronal Dragan Washington was one of 781 flights per day at Los Angeles International Airport, and was sold in the second most. The road is doubled.
Added a DC government building, the military voyage insider talks to the post, and “All elements that complicate aviation are combined and combined there.”
Commercial flights with pre -planned destinations and landing slots can be much easier to manage than military flights, like a Black Hawk Army Helicopter flying south along the Potomac on a training flight.
“There may be complicated communication protocols on their mission,” said the insider. “They may have been training for bad vision and some kind of tactical missions.”
Insider also stated that aerial accidents, including military flights, are more common than most people, but tend to be quiet. “I don't think people understand how often military collisions are,” he said. “”[The helicopter that went down in DC] It's not the first military aircraft that crashed [even] this week. “”
According to FAA data, in recent years, in recent years, it has become more common, and 503 “significant” air traffic control has been recorded in 2023.
The Delta and American Airlines flights almost collided at JFK Airport in New York in January 2023, followed by Fedex Airplane within 100 feet from the southwest airplane, which had been about to take off in Austin a month later. In these cases, the FAA urged the FAA to open a audit at the risk of invasion of the runway at 45, the busiest airport in the United States. The results of the report have not been disclosed yet.
However, aeronautic experts said that the pilot side of the helicopter felt that the error was likely.
“I think the American Airlines Jet is very likely to have been a place where the plane was accurate,” said Christine Negroni, the author of the Bestseller and the author of The Crash Detective. I talked to. “It was a final approach. It was 200-300 feet. It was a necessary place. In that case, the responsibility is flying so that everything else is there.”
HARTEVELDT also mentioned that air control officers worked overtime and work for six weeks. “We have a shortage of air control officers,” he said.
On Thursday, President Trump maintained Pete Batty Giag, who served as a chief of Transport under the former President Biden, and driven his division on the ground with his diversity. It is found as a cause.
“It's back to the too crowded airspace,” he said. “Even a sunny night is difficult to see with a lot of light.”
He claimed that the most likely scenario in his heart was a shortcoming for the military's flight, “It was a helicopter pilot that mistakenly made an airplane as another airplane. You tape. When he asks, he says he says he has traffic in his view, “he is probably looking at the wrong plane.
