The deadly midair collision near Washington, D.C., prompted concerns over crowded airspace. Gregory Feith, a former senior investigator with the NTSB, tells "The Daily Report" that the tragedy "has nothing to do with traffic density."

Washington

A regional jet carrying 64 people collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter while on approach to Reagan National Airport near Washington, DC.

D.C. Crash

Transportation Secretary Sean Dovey has implemented restrictions on helicopter flights near Ronald Reagan National Airport in response to a fatal midair collision near Washington, D.C. The decision follows concerns regarding the heavily trafficked airspace in the area. The Coalition to Protect America's Airports, an airport safety advocacy group, highlights Reagan National's classification as the busiest commercial runway in the U.S., managing nine million more passengers than its design intended.

Reagan National, situated in a confined area, accommodates over 800 takeoffs and landings daily, alongside other regional airports' bustling traffic. The airspace is a critical mix of civilian and military aircraft, crucial to national security due to its proximity to the Capitol and White House. Gregory Fyfe, a former senior investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, emphasized that the collision was not linked to air traffic density but called for a focus on operational discipline.

The recent restriction is seen as a precautionary measure while authorities investigate the incident. Despite historical safety in the mixed air traffic of the region for over 50 years, Congress's decision to approve additional daily flights at Reagan is scrutinized. There is anticipation of a re-examination of flight routes and procedures to manage the integration of military and civilian air traffic effectively without necessitating drastic operational changes.



U.S. officials restrict helicopter flights near D.C. airport

Transportation Secretary Sean Dovey has restricted helicopter flights near Ronald Reagan National Airport following Wednesday night's deadly midair collision According to the Coalition to Protect America's Airports an airport safety advocacy group Reagan National Airport is the busiest Commercial runway in the US with no room to grow the group says it serves 9 million more passengers than it was designed to handle Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority says there are more than 800 takeoffs and landings at Reagan National per day That's in addition to hundreds of daily flights coming in and out of other airports in the Maryland, Washington, Virginia Area joining us right now to discuss is Gregory Fyfe. He's a former senior investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board Thank you for joining us on this important topic. Why does the DC area have such a busy airspace? Is it the traffic combined with the tight space? It is it's a very confined space unlike, Washington, Dulles or even Baltimore, Washington Where they are out in a more of a rural area, even though they are surrounded with a lot of urban buildings Washington DC is a very compressed very small Section of pavement next to a very busy corridor of air traffic, which is a combined air traffic It's both civilian and military and those are critical military routes. Those low-level helicopter routes are critical for National security and other reasons and because of their proximity to the Capitol in the White House There were concerns over the crowded airspace around DC before this happened now We have Secretary Duffy restricting airspace. First of all, help us understand what exactly that means and isn't an acknowledgment that there's an issue It's I think it's a bit premature. Yes Secretary Duffy did restrict operations and I think a lot of that stems from the fact that they're still in the recovery phase of getting both the Regional jet and the helicopter out of the water, but they have to really study what's going on One of the misnomers I believe that that we've been talking about or has been talked about over the last three days Everybody everybody thinks that this accident is somehow related to traffic density and it has nothing to do with traffic density You had one aircraft you had one fixed-wing aircraft. That's the regional jet and one helicopter It's not like it was a multitude of aircraft that all came together The thing that they really have to look at is operational discipline on the part of both the military pilots and the regional jet pilots But they also have to look at Really the the flow of traffic coming in and into and out of Washington National they may have to put some restrictions like prohibiting night over flights of those routes as as the pilots are trying to land on 3-3 because that Particular route that the that the American Airlines airplane took took them right over route 4 Which is that low-level helicopter route? Last year Congress approved more daily flights at Reagan, even though the airport opposed the idea Why did they do this and does that need to be re-examined? I? Think that does you know that was done I think for some political reasons as even I believe it was a congressman or the senator who had lobbied the FAA and American Airlines to Establish that direct flight from Wichita to Washington and while it is convenient for some Does it add to in in in the grand scheme of things a lot of a lot more traffic Yes, but is it all about traffic flow? Is it all about staffing as far as air traffic is is concerned? Do they have to come up with different route structures so that when you have that mixed traffic such as the low-level helicopter? Traffic mixing with civilian airplanes coming into and out of Washington National They'll have to re re-examine that but they don't need to take drastic action to shut down the airport or drastically reduce the number of flights because this accident Was a one-off They've been operating mixed flow traffic for better than 50 years in and out of that particular piece of airspace And it's been done safely. Have there been near mid-airs or potential for mid-airs? Yes, because you have humans interacting with machines But in the grand scheme of things it's been done safely because of the protocols that have been established Evolutionary over a period of time to make that piece of airspace safe Gregory Fife, thank you Thank you

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