Staffing at the air-traffic control tower at Ronald Reagan National Airport was “not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic” when an American Airlines regional jet and a Black Hawk helicopter collided in mid-air, an internal preliminary Federal Aviation Administration safety report that was reviewed by Frequent Business Traveler and The Travelist.
The incident took place on Wednesday just before 9 p.m. local time over the Potomac River as the Bombardier jet en route from Wichita, Kansas, descended to Reagan National. Officials said on Thursday that all 67 people on both aircraft are believed to be dead.
The report found that the controller who was handling helicopters in the airport’s vicinity at the time of the mid-air was also instructing planes that were landing and departing from Reagan National’s runways. These jobs typically are assigned to two controllers, not just one.
The airport’s air-traffic control tower had been understaffed for years, according to the Times, with just 19 fully certified controllers as of September 2023 despite targets set by the FAA for 30 controllers.
Later on Thursday, it was revealed that about 40 bodies had been recovered in the Potomac River, CBS News and ABC News separately reported, along with some partial remains. Investigators believe they have recovered all they can without moving the plane’s fuselage.
Like most of the country’s air traffic control facilities, the tower at Reagan airport has been understaffed for years, in some respects going back to the 1980 PATCO, or Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization, strike in 1980, when President Ronald Reagan fired roughly half of all civilian controllers. Reagan’s backup plan was to hope enough controllers crossed the picket lines, bring retired controllers back, use controllers from the U.S. military, and put air traffic control students through accelerated tracks, trying to get them ready. Reagan’s plan worked and, with it, Reagan dealt a serious blow to the American labor movement.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)
