The Federal Aviation Administration plans to announce it will reduce arrivals at Washington Reagan National Airport in DC, after a deadly collision between a helicopter and an American Airlines jet killed 67 people.
The FAA told airlines late on Wednesday that the reduction from a maximum of 28 to 26 arrivals per hour would reduce future risks – but will also increase average delays from 40 minutes to 50 minutes.
The email, seen by Reuters, said investigators from the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board ‘have expressed concern for our tower personnel on duty, who have an increased level of stress while also having a front row view of the accident recovery.’
The email added that reducing the rate from 28 to 26 ‘will reduce risk and allow a little space for extra coordination.’
Reagan National Airport is notoriously crowded, and the crossover in the air space between jets and helicopters is routine.
This comes after authorities confirmed that Black Hawk Army helicopter was in fact flying 100 feet too high when it crashed into the commercial aircraft.
The helicopter, flown by 28-year-old Captain Rebecca M. Lobach on a routine training exercise, was flying at 300 feet, but the maximum altitude permitted for choppers in the area is 200 feet.
A deadly collision between a helicopter and an American Airlines regional jet killed 67 people last week (pictured: the wreckage being removed from the Potomac River)
The black box data recovered from the wreckage in the Potomac River had indicated that this situation likely occurred, but the National Transport Safety Board was waiting on the air traffic control data to confirm the high altitude.
Radar data is rounded to the nearest 100 feet, which means the helicopter was flying anywhere between 251 feet and 349 feet of elevation, the NTSB said.
Meanwhile, the passenger plane was at 325 feet at the time of the crash and had been cleared to land.
In the split second before the crash, the plane’s pilots made an effort to jerk the aircraft upwards in an effort to avoid the oncoming helicopter.
‘At one point very close to the impact, there was a slight change in pitch, an increase in pitch,’ NTSB’s Todd Inman said in a press conference Saturday night.
There were no survivors on either flight, and all 67 bodies have now been retrieved from the water.
Questions had been raised about how the collision – which killed all 67 people involved – occurred, given pilots follow strict protocol about the altitudes they can safely reach
There were 60 passengers and four crew on board the American Airlines flight from Wichita, Kansas, while three soldiers were on the helicopter.
‘This is a complex investigation,’ said Brice Banning, NTSB investigator in charge. ‘There are a lot of pieces here. Our team is working hard to gather this data.’
Banning also discussed the last moments from the jet’s two black boxes, which captured sound in the cockpit and flight data.
‘The crew had a verbal reaction,’ Banning said, with the data recorder showing ‘the airplane beginning to increase its pitch.
‘Sounds of impact were audible about one second later, followed by the end of the recording.’
