Posted on 05/05/2025 5:50:42 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Army is pausing helicopter flights near a Washington airport after two commercial planes had to abort landings last week because of an Army Black Hawk helicopter that was flying to the Pentagon.
The commander of the 12th Aviation Battalion directed the unit to pause helicopter flight operations around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport following Thursday’s close calls, two Army officials confirmed to The Associated Press on Monday. One official said the flights have been paused since Friday.
The pause comes after 67 people died in January when a passenger jet collided in midair with a Black Hawk helicopter at Reagan airport.
The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details that were not publicly announced. The unit is continuing to fly in the greater Washington, D.C., region.
The unit had begun a return to flight within the last week, with plans to gradually increase the number of flights over the next four weeks, according to an Army document viewed by the AP.
Thursday’s close call involved a Delta Air Lines Airbus A319 and a Republic Airways Embraer E170, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
They were instructed by air traffic control to “perform go-arounds” because of a “priority air transport” helicopter, according to an emailed statement from the Federal Aviation Administration.
The priority air transport helicopters of the 12th battalion provide transport service to top Pentagon officials. It was a Black Hawk priority air transport known as PAT25 that collided with the passenger jet in midair in January.
That crash was the worst U.S. midair disaster in more than two decades. In March, the FAA announced that helicopters would be...
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
Pete has a minor task to accomplish to make Reagan Airport safe again.
What’s worse within range of an airport—Z’s drones or our military’s helo pilots?
The woke generals will object.
The Pentagon needs to use rubber treaded tanks to ferry themselves about DC.
Why does this have to happen again? Why did they resume them? What flag officers were fired from the last time the army flew a helo into a passenger jet?
“near miss”
No, that was a near hit. George Carlin
If the battalion commander and safety officer are not fired, it’s more of the same.
Everyone in DC needs to get a grip when it comes to helo routes around that airport. Sorry you pampered assh*les, but you’re gonna have to take a longer route AROUND the airport; just like in other cities, where there is a wide buffer zone around their airports. Reports are hundreds of unreasonably close encounters over the years. It’s absurd, like most things in DC.
Reagan National should have been shut to down for commerical air traffic years ago. Dulles serves DC too, and has much longer runways and is a much safer airport. Reagan was never designed to handle the volume of traffic going through it. The only reason it is still handling commerical air traffic is because the DC pols don’t want to travel the extra few miles to Dulles.
It should be shut down period. The airport is obsolete. 9/11 was the perfect time for them to shut it down. Plenty of capacity available at Dulles and Baltimore.
New housing developments should be built at DCA. Location is ideal.
I guess we will never find out who the pilots were in the latest blackhawk incident.
“I guess we will never find out who the pilots were in the latest blackhawk incident.”
And the Epstein-like passenger list.
WHO was the BRASS in this HELICOPTER???
Fewer generals, fewer “priority air transport” requirements.
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