By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The National Transportation Safety Board on Thursday questioned the failure of an air traffic controller to issue a warning about a potential collision in the moments before a crash between an Army helicopter and an American Airlines regional jet that killed 67 people.
The board held a second day of hearings on Thursday looking at issues at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport before the January 29 collision over the nearby Potomac River. It was the deadliest
U.S. air disaster in more than 20 years.
NTSB and Federal Aviation Administration officials said that before the crash the controller on duty should have given a traffic alert to the passenger jet, but instead gave one only to the Army Black Hawk helicopter.
"The controller should have alerted the (American Airlines plane) of the traffic," NTSB board member Michael Graham said.
FAA official Nick Fuller said the controller should have let the American Airlines crew know that there was a helicopter nearby.
Asked why he did not issue the alert to the jet, the controller told NTSB investigators in a January 31 interview made public on Wednesday that he did not "think it would have made a difference honestly."
The NTSB also cited a memo written by an employee in 2023 that questioned whether additional flights should be added to the already congested Reagan National airport. FAA officials also questioned whether the arrival flight rates during certain 30-minute periods were too high.
"So you're telling me today they're still flying more operations than what you recommended in 2023?" NTSB board member Todd Inman asked FAA manager Bryan Lehman, who agreed.
The FAA said in April it was reviewing Reagan National's arrival rate, which is disproportionately concentrated within the last 30 minutes of each hour.
NTSB investigators also questioned why the FAA failed to conduct alcohol testing on the controllers who were at work at the time of the crash.
NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy on the first day of the hearing on Wednesday criticized the FAA for failing to act.
"Every sign was there that there was a safety risk, and the tower was telling you," Homendy said. "You transferred people out instead of taking ownership over the fact that everybody in FAA in the tower was saying there was a problem ... Fix it. Do better."
The main runway at Reagan is the single busiest runway in the United States.
The NTSB disclosed that members of an FAA air traffic working group in 2022 had urged moving helicopter traffic away from Reagan National Airport and to establish airborne "hot spots," but said the idea was rejected because the issue was "too political."
(Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
