The Senate Commerce and Transportation Committee on Monday asked Army and Department of Transportation inspectors to conduct a parallel audit of aviation safety practices at agencies around Washington, D.C. following a fatal air crash earlier this year.
The bipartisan letter was led by Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, and panel chairperson, and Maria Cantwell of Washington, a top Democrat on the committee, and was signed by the panel's Democrats and most of them.
In it, the senator emphasized that the January 29 accident in which the Army Black Hawk helicopter condemned American Airlines Flight 5342 highlighted a dangerous, continuing pattern of patterns between military and commercial aircraft around Ronald Reagan National Airport.
They are referring to the Federal Aviation Administration, urging inspectors to “target specifically whether compliance with FAA and Army procedures, communication systems, or existing protocols increases aviation safety.”
The letter will be briefed behind closed doors by representatives of the FAA, the Army and National Traffic Safety Commission, on a recent close call between commercial and military aircraft in the area around the Reagan National Airport and the Pentagon. A briefing is scheduled for Wednesday, according to a council aide.
Securing enquiries for these internal watchdogs was a top priority for the family of Flight 5342, a group formed by relatives of killed American Airlines passengers. In a statement, the group said the senator's bipartisan demands “represents an important first step towards rebuilding public trust after this tragedy.”
“We are urging inspectors to dedicate all the resources necessary to conduct these audits promptly and thoroughly, and to make discoveries public to the fullest possible extent possible,” the statement continued.
The National Transportation Safety Board investigated a crash fall in March, and the FAA recommends permanently banning helicopter traffic along a military route known as Route 4 when the airport runway 33 is in use, and finding alternative routes for military operations in such circumstances. However, the Army and FAA internal watchdogs have not yet begun investigating the collision.
The Department of Transport Inspectors' Office habitually releases audit reports to the public, but similar releases from Army Inspectors are more limited.
The senators gave watchdogs in each department specific goals for referrals.
They instructed the Department of Transport's deputy inspectors to investigate the design and management of the FAA for flight routes and airspace around Reagan National Airport. The letter also calls for details on monitoring and management of the Aviation Safety Gap Monitoring Authority, analysis of data from previous near misses, and whether the exemption from the requirement for Army helicopters to use tracking gear that was turned off just before the January 29 crash has been properly eliminated.
The letter also asks FAA inspectors to review the role and effectiveness of the agency's DC Helicopter Working Group. In late March, NTSB chair Jennifer Homney told the senators it was difficult for the board to identify who is involved in the group and identify the work it did.
An NTSB spokesman did not return a request for comment on whether the board had obtained the information.
In the letter, the panel asked Army inspectors to investigate how they coordinate with the FAA during operations around Washington. This includes pilot training and qualifications, as well as policies regarding the status and use of Black Hawk Helicopter tracking techniques and maintenance protocols.
The senator also called for the Army watchdog to review the Army systems when military and commercial aircraft get too close to each other to prevent any close calls in the future.
In a news release accompanying Monday's letter, committee leaders noted that the Army has not yet provided to the panel on the August 2024 policy for cases where tracking systems will be used in missions and exercises around Washington that they requested in late March.
