U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says it's "unacceptable" that two commercial jetliners had to abort landings this week at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport because of an Army Black Hawk helicopter.
The incident Thursday afternoon occurred three months after 67 people were killed in a mid-air collision near the airport between a Black Hawk and a passenger jet.
In an email reported by Politico, Chris Senn, Federal Aviation Administration assistant administrator for government and industry affairs, said the Army helicopter "took a scenic route around the Pentagon versus proceeding directly from the west to the heliport."
Senn said the helicopter violated safety standards and required air traffic controllers to order two commercial jetliners to perform "go-around maneuvers," aborting their landings and returning on another approach.
Restrictions were placed on helicopter flights near the airport after a Jan. 29 mid-air collision between a Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines regional jet that was attempting to land at DCA. It was the deadliest aviation accident in the U.S. since 2001.
"Unacceptable. Our helicopter restrictions around DCA are crystal clear," Duffy said in a post on the social platform X. "Safety must ALWAYS come first. We just lost 67 souls! No more helicopter rides for VIPs or unnecessary training in a congested DCA airspace full of civilians."
The FAA said the incident, which happened around 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, involved a Delta Air Lines flight and a Republic Airways flight. The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are both carrying out investigations.
Duffy said he'll also be talking to officials at the Defense Department about "why the hell our rules were disregarded."
In March, following the release of a preliminary investigation report into the January crash, NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy described the flight patterns around DCA as "an intolerable risk" as helicopters and commercial planes operate close to each other in the busy airspace over Washington.
An NTSB analysis found that from 2011 to 2024, there was at least one "close call" each month between a commercial plane operating at the airport and a helicopter, she said.
Duffy permanently restricted non-essential helicopter operations around DCA.
In late March, a close call between a Delta plane and an Air Force jet outside Washington triggered a collision warning and "corrective instructions" from air traffic controllers.
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