Counter drone tests conducted by the Secret Service and the US Navy caused false traffic warnings for commercial aircraft in its approach to the Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, DC, Congressional testimony was revealed on March 27.
During an aviation safety hearing in Capitol Hill following the January 29 air collision between a commercial jet and a military helicopter at the same airport, Sen. Ted Cruz, chairman of the Commercial Science Transport Committee, said it was “very unsettling” that such a testing program interfered with passenger carry flights in Reagan citizens.
Cruz describes multiple instances of airline pilots who have been warned by the Traffic Warning and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) in their approach to the airport.
The warning “advises pilots about imminent threats from above, and in some cases instructing crews to take evasive actions in descending order,” he says. “I think we all realized just a few weeks after the tragedy that commercial pilots were told there was an imminent risk of a fatal hollow collision.”
Cruise claims that the Secret Service and the US Navy are “improperly testing counter-drone technology” at Reagan National.
Apparently, the Navy used the same spectral band as the TCAS, causing interference and false solutions, despite the FAA previously warning the Navy and Secret Service against the use of that particular spectral band due to interference risk,” Cruz says.
Cruz asked Federal Aviation Administration sit-in administrator Chris Rochelow if the March 1st incident at Reagan National was accurate.
Rochero responded, “Yes, that's the right thing to do.”
“It's very unsettling that such tests were allowed to happen just a month after 67 people died,” Cruz says. “This committee hopes to investigate exactly why it happened.”
The exchange occurred during an investigation hearing by the National Traffic Safety Board (NTSB) on a January 29 accident involving a US military Black Hawk helicopter collided with PSA airline MHIRJ CRJ700.
Both aircraft plunged into the ice-covered Potomac River, killing all the crew and passengers.
After releasing a preliminary report on the accident earlier this month, the NTSB said its investigation is ongoing and has not yet determined the presumed cause.
NTSB Chairman Jennifer Homendy testified on March 27 that a team of 40 accident investigators were trying to complete the report “except for unexpected circumstances” within a year.
