Better late than never, I guess?
In this post:
Army suspends Pentagon helicopter flights, at last
Politico reports how the Army has today suspended helicopter flights into the Pentagon, near Washington National Airport (DCA). This suspension impacts helicopter operations out of the 12th Aviation Battalion, which is tasked with evacuating political VIPs in the event of an emergency.
This suspension is pending an internal inquiry, so there’s no indication that this will be permanent. But hey, something is better than nothing, right? One certainly hopes that these flights will only resume once new procedures are put in place that ensure our skies are safe.
In late January 2025, we saw a tragic accident at DCA, where a Black Hawk helicopter crashed into an American Eagle CRJ-700, claiming 67 lives. Just last week, we saw a Black Hawk helicopter go off course near DCA while approaching the Pentagon, causing go arounds for two aircraft. Both of those incidents involved the 12th Aviation Battalion.
In response to last week’s incident, an Army spokesperson has said that the helicopter flight was conducted “in accordance with published FAA flight routes,” and that the controllers had to take action to “ensure the appropriate deconfliction of airspace.” The spokesperson also reiterated that the Army “remains committed to aviation safety and conducting flight operations within all approved guidelines and procedures.”
Talk about a rare bipartisan issue!
Honestly, what can people across the political spectrum agree on nowadays? Not a whole lot. I mean, we don’t even agree on whether it’s funny to joke about running for Pope, days after the Pope dies.
But here’s something people on both sides of the aisle can agree on — keep helicopters the heck away from DCA’s airspace. It’s time to prioritize the safety of the actual traveling public over these theoretical evacuation scenarios that the Army keeps practicing for.
In response to last week’s close call, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy expressed outrage, calling the incident “unacceptable,” and stating that helicopter restrictions are “crystal clear.” Duffy said he’d talk to the Department of Defense to “ask why the hell our rules were disregarded.”
He concluded by suggesting that “no more helicopter rides for VIPs or unnecessary training in a congested DCA airspace full of civilians,” and to “take a taxi or Uber – besides most VIPs have black car service.” While I think he’s a little confused about the purpose of these flights, I agree with the takeaway, and I commend him for obviously having an impact in adding these new restrictions.
Senator Ted Cruz also chimed in, saying that “the Army is once again putting the traveling public at risk,” and encouraging the FAA “to act swiftly and assert control over the national airspace so the Army stops running air taxis for military officials near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.”
You tell ’em, Sean and Ted!
Bottom line
The Army has finally suspended Pentagon helicopter flights, given the risk this poses to DCA. This follows yet another close call at the airport, which sent two planes on a go around, as a Black Hawk helicopter flew off course. This seems like a sensible change, and I hope these flights aren’t restored until some material change is made to procedures.
What do you make of the Army suspending helicopter flights near DCA?
Some military authorities invest heavily in NVG training for both rotary and fixed wing aircrews. Such training would never be carried out in such a congested airspace. Only fully qualified and experienced pilots would be allowed to operate in such a potentially hostile environment.
One is not trying to suggest that the lack of appropriate training was a contributing cause of subject serious incident, only the incident investigators can determine that.
In the actual event of an emergency VIP evacuation from the Pentagon, traffic into DCA would just be diverted. Using night vision goggles or anything that restricted special awareness in such a tight airspace never, ever made any sense
I am wondering why the Blackhawks of this unit are suddenly struggling to integrate with the local traffic pattern. Perhaps getting rid of those PoC has reduced the quality of the flight personnel?
Re: the paragraph about Duffy being confused about the purpose of the flights. I disagree, I think he's mostly right. The DoD mostly flies around there for two reasons: training flights for evacuation scenarios, and shuttling VIPs who don't want to deal with DC traffic to/from the Pentagon. I'd bet there are more of the latter than the former, which is what I understood Sec. Duffy to be saying.
As for the evacuation training...
Re: the paragraph about Duffy being confused about the purpose of the flights. I disagree, I think he's mostly right. The DoD mostly flies around there for two reasons: training flights for evacuation scenarios, and shuttling VIPs who don't want to deal with DC traffic to/from the Pentagon. I'd bet there are more of the latter than the former, which is what I understood Sec. Duffy to be saying.
As for the evacuation training flights, I don't think they need to be run that often. And it seems a reasonable compromise would be to do them between 1 AM and 5 AM when there are no scheduled landings/takeoffs.
Fastest way to die ... standing between Ted Cruz and a news camera ... encouraging the FAA “to act swiftly and assert control over the national airspace so the Army stops running air taxis for military officials near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.” --- Wouldn't it be a lot quicker to ask the Army to stop doing it?" Did Ted try that, was told to go pound sand. (in Mexico ...)
Flying’ Ted to the rescue!
Could this serious incident spell the end to DEI in the U.S. military?
Could inclusion on merit be restored in the U.S.?
Could this spell the end of the WOKE indoctrination in the U.S.?
Could you stop going on about DEI with absolutely no evidence? Could you stop with saying “woke” which has absolutely no definition aside from “things and people I don’t like”.
James, James, could you please explain to all readers why one should STOP asking questions about factors which could have contributed to the subject serious incident?
Could the questions be related and therefore embarrassing to the U.S. military?
I am flying AA today and the option was to connect at DCA or CLT to head to MSP…. DCA was better timed. But nope. My somewhat irrational self chose CLT.
It was about time for this to happen
See how easy the fix is...
Tragic "accident".....actually, it was incompetence and negligence.
I feel like that doesn't make it not an accident
Who is going to be held accountable for the lives lost?
Nobody. The potential scapegoats are dead and politicians care more about the convenience of DCA today than any future risk to themselves or the traveling public.
Certainly NOT the people who kept passing her on previous checkrides, or anybody in the Biden Administration who made phone calls to the 12thBN telling them to do it or the people who electronically wiped her from the face of the Earth.
@CHRIS
Is Biden also the reason you can't pee standing up?
well said Dusty, well said
Big snort laugh. Good one, Dusty!!!! I can pee standing up!!! LOL
It is only a bipartisan issue because many of those in Congress fly in and out of DCA.