With 20 seconds of contact lost, the Pentagon Tower did not land on the Black Hawk, and the helicopter surrounded the Pentagon for a second time.
Military air traffic controllers approached the Pentagon on May 1, making contact with the Army Black Hawk helicopter for about 20 seconds, resulting in two commercial jets that halted landings at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
Brig. General Matthew Braman, head of Army Aviation, said the loss of contact occurred as the temporary control tower antenna was not located to maintain communication with the helicopter. He said the antennas were installed during construction of the new control tower and then moved to the Pentagon roof to prevent a recurrence.
Braman also said federal air traffic controllers within the airport had no suitable modifications for the helicopter location. Blackhawk had sent data to give the controller an exact location, but Braman told him that FAA officials told him that the data on multiple feeds and sensors was inconclusive, with some of them deviating at three-quarters of a mile.
“It certainly led to air traffic control disruptions as to where they were,” Braman said.
The FAA spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment from NTD News, sister media of the Epoch Times. I checked whether the controller was able to find exactly where the helicopter is at that point.
According to Braman, the airport’s FAA air traffic controllers aborted the landing of Delta Airbus A319 during the Black Hawk’s first approach, as both aircraft were located near the Pentagon at the same time.
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With 20 seconds of contact lost, the Pentagon Tower did not land on the Black Hawk, and the helicopter surrounded the Pentagon for a second time. During this second approach, the airport controller decided to cancel the landing of its second jet, the Republic Airware Embraer E170, as it is not confident in the Black Hawk’s position, according to Braman.
Helicopter flights have been suspended
After the incident, on May 5th, the Army forced all helicopter flights in and out of the pentagon to work with the FAA to address safety issues.
The suspension will affect the 12th Air Battalion, where Pentagon officials, confirmed by the Epoch Times, are responsible for evacuating the highest political authorities in emergencies.
The FAA confirmed the incident and stated it, saying it was the National Transportation Safety Commission would investigate.
At the time of the incident, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy criticized the Pentagon on social media.
“Safety must always come first. We have lost 67 souls! We can’t ride any more due to helicopter rides for VIPs or unnecessary training in crowded DCA airspace filled with civilians. Take a taxi or Uber.
“I think it’s time for the FAA to act quickly and quickly control national aviation space, which will cause the Army to stop air taxi operations for military officials near the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport,” Cruz said.
In a statement on the same case, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), a ranking member of the Commerce Committee, said, “It’s far more past time for (defense) secretary (Pete) Hegses and the FAA to give airspace security and safety attention.”
In March, the FAA permanently closed one important route and banned the use of two small runways at the airport whenever a helicopter was carrying out an emergency mission or operated nearby.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
