Air traffic controllers at the Pentagon lost contact with an Army helicopter for about 20 seconds during a flight that forced two commercial jets to abort their landings at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport earlier this month, a military official revealed Friday.
The brief blackout was the result of a temporary control tower antenna not being set up in a location where it would be able to maintain contact with the Black Hawk helicopter as it approached to land, Brig. Gen. Matthew Braman, the head of Army aviation, told the Associated Press.
The antenna has since been moved to the Pentagon’s roof, he noted.
Military air traffic controllers lost contact with an Army helicopter for about 20 seconds as it neared the Pentagon resulting two nearby aircrafts to abort their landings. APThe helicopter was also transmitting data to federal air traffic controllers at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) that put its position as much as three-quarters of a mile away from where it actually was on the May 1 flight, adding to the confusion.
“It certainly led to confusion of air traffic control of where they were,” Braman said.
It’s unclear why the controllers at DCA were receiving bad location data from the Black Hawk.
The Federal Aviation Administration did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
A Delta Air Lines Airbus A319 aborted its landing at DCA when FAA air traffic controllers determined both aircraft would be nearing the Pentagon at roughly the same time, according to Braman.
The second jet, a Republic Airways Embraer E170, scrubbed its landing when the Black Hawk was forced to circle the Pentagon a second time due to the 20-second blackout and as DCA controllers struggled to determine the precise location of the helicopter.
The aborted landings were the latest of close calls with federal helicopters and commercial jets following the deadly midair collision in January that killed 67 people. Getty ImagesAll flights in and out of the Pentagon have been paused since the May 1 incident, which followed a midair collision over the Potomac River in January between an American Airlines passenger jet and an Army helicopter that killed 67 people.
In response to the deadly crash, the FAA announced in March that helicopters would be permanently barred from flying the route that resulted in the collision.
An FAA official initially blamed the two aborted landings on the helicopter taking “a scenic route around the Pentagon versus proceeding directly from the west to the heliport.”
Data reviewed by the AP, however, indicated that the helicopter flew closely to its approved flight path.
Earlier this month, FAA Air Traffic Organization deputy COO Franklin McIntosh told the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee that a hotline connecting the Pentagon with air traffic controllers at DCA has been “inoperable” since March 2022.
The downed line was only noticed after the tragic Jan. 29 collision over the Potomac, McIntosh said.
