BBC News

Mike Slack, a pilot, was in a cockpit while descending to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, almost 20 years ago, noticed something on the runway.
The approved pilot, now a aviation lawyer, was sitting on the right pilot seat because the plane was preparing to land on the runway 33.
The departure of the departure Cessna was pulling on the runway and taking off. His aircraft stopped landing immediately, returned to the sky, began to turn the airport, and re -tested -a sudden go -around flight operation.
“It was one of the moment you go. The man who was nearby and was tight,” he told the BBC.
Almost mistakes in the airport and the whole country are far from the standard, and the fatal collision is further rarely, but the CRASH drop on Wednesday, when 67 people died, re -evaluated safe protocols and spotlight air traffic. The call to hit has been updated. Reagan National Airport.
“When this happened, it usually overcomes a lot of safety measures,” said Ron Bazman, a retired air traffic controller who had all his son, wife, and brothers as a controller. 。 “It's a rarely smoking gun.”
The cause of the collision is still determined, but the media and the White House speculate what did not work, as the actions performed by the helicopter and the aviation traffic control personnel on the night of CRASH. I am. Since the 1980s, it is the worst air collision in the United States.
Professor R. John Hansman of Mit Aeronautics stated that it is important to be in charge of safety concerns, but it is also important to recognize that American aviation systems are one of the safest in the world. I stated.
“This was terrible,” he said. He said that there was no big commercial airplane CRASH accident since 2009. “But the system is not different.”
Since his comments, a small medical transport has been crashed into a Philadelphia building just two days after Washington dropped CRASH. Jetless queare ambulance stated in a statement that Jet was carried by four crew members, the guards of children and patients.
FAA and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are investigating crashes. In the statement, President Donald Trump stated: “It's very sad to see the airplane falling in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A more innocent soul has been lost.”
What happened at Reagan National Airport?
The American Airlines flight departing from Wichita, Kansas, came to land on Wednesday evening when collided with the Sicorsky H-60 Black Hawk Helicopter. The Army helicopter took off from Fort Berboa near Virginia on a training mission.
The online air traffic control conversation recording suggests that the controller warns the helicopter about the jet in a few seconds of the collision. The helicopter pilot seemed to confirm that he was aware of the plane, but after a while, two aircraft collided.
The airport, located in Virginia, in the center of the capital area, is very popular with travelers, but faces many logistics issues, such as congestion in the airspace and short runway.
It offers about 400 flights and about 22,000 commercial flights every year, providing services directly to 98 destinations in the United States and Canada, and is a feeder airport on international hubs in the region, such as Philadelphia, Charlotte, Atlanta, and New York.
Some pilots spoken by the BBC stated that entering small airports at the end of the US capital could be a chewing experience.
“Sometimes I see an airplane landing, and I realize that HOA is nearby.” Pilot Mo Khimji pointed out that he could do it. 。
Multiple types of aircraft, from the Air Force, which carries the President, to commercial flights and military helicopters, share the airspace. And at night, the lights in the city reflect the Potomax River, create a visibility, and make other aircraft even more difficult.
Slack is smaller than other airports, such as nearby Dales International Airport, and Slack calls it a postage stamp.
“It's a challenging arrival and a challenging approach. You have traffic around you, above, below, and both sides,” he said.
Near Miss Spark Safety Review
Slack's experience of near miss is not a isolated case. According to the FAA case and an accident list, just 24 hours of the fatal collision, a military helicopter approached another regional jet and suddenly appeared.
After several national incidents in 2023, the Federal Aviation Bureau (FAA) ordered a safety review that “there are too many close calls.”
The review raised an alarm.
“Insufficient, inconsistent funding” and shortage of personnel have brought the “erosion” of safety standards that create “current sustainable levels”.
According to a safety review in 2023, the lack of staffing of chronic air traffic control affects the FAA's ability to maintain safety standards.
Last year, the agency did not barely exceed the 1,800 controller employment target by 11. However, the 2023 review revealed that these targets were inadequate to “appropriately meet the needs of the system.”
Professor Hansman said that the employee's waves were retired, and the problem of staffing was “permanent”. Bazman, a retired air control officer, said that COVID had worsened many staffing issues.
“It's a domino effect, it's really true,” he said.
In many cases, training for highly specialized work to securely guide people full of aircraft can take three years in the air and the ground.
If the staff is short, the available workers will be in the most important position and some roles will not be filled.
Professor Hansman warns the accusation of a shortage of controller due to recent collisions, saying, “There is no sign of controller incompetence.”
Political impacts change
A safety review found that the FAA leader -organization, which was appointed by the FAA budget and the president, and was confirmed by the Senate, it could be a prey to the ups and downs of Capitol Hill.
The shortage of chronic controllers has deteriorated if the US government's closure, which started in 2018, was suspended for employment.
Political pressure has also influenced Reagan.
Last year, US members of the United States tried to add a landing point through the re -approval of the FAA budget after almost two weeks of the airport. Virginia Senator Tim Kane opposed it.
“You shouldn't clog your flight on the busy runway in the United States,” Kane told his fellow lawmakers.

Next, in the role of the FAA administrator, there is a stable rotation of a person at the top. Three years later, there were as many administrators in the agency.
When American Airlines jet and helicopter collided on Wednesday, there were no FAA administrators.
Biden and his appointed Michael Witaker resigned in December of the five -year term in December. The media was accelerated by the FAA with a fine of $ 600,000 to launch a rocket company SPACEX $ 600,000, and then promoted early departure by President Donald Trump's President Donald Trump, who demanded the resignation of Whitaker. Reported.
Trump was nominated as an agent in the wake of a crash, but permanent administrators must go through the Congress's approval process.
Professor Hansman said that it would be difficult for the administrator's rotating door to make substantial changes and improvements.
“It keeps it and keeps working as it has,” he said.
However, the CRASH fall on Wednesday, but the change should be expected to change, and Todd Inman of the National Transport Safety Commission (NTSB) told the media on Friday evening.
“Our job is to find facts, and more importantly, our job is to confirm that this tragedy will never occur.
“We defend changes that we need to do for years.”