One controller was doing the job of two when plane and helicopter collided in Washington

The investigation into the causes of the midair crash that claimed the lives of 67 people in Washington on Wednesday is underway. Emergency teams have recovered the black box and the recordings from the American Airlines jet involved. Conclusions have not yet been drawn, but a preliminary report from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) cited by AP and other U.S. media indicates that at the time of the collision between the passenger plane and a military helicopter, the number of air traffic controllers on duty was not usual. One person was supervising both airplanes and helicopters alone, when normally at the time of day the crash occurred there would be one controller for each type of aircraft.

The accident occurred at 20:48 ET. Under normal conditions, from 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., that is, during peak traffic hours, there is an air traffic controller at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport dedicated exclusively to supervising helicopter flights. At the time of the accident, however, this task was being carried out simultaneously by a controller directing traffic around the airport.

According to The New York Times, a supervisor authorized the helicopter controller to leave early, leaving the service understaffed for the time of day and volume of air traffic. The supervisor has the authority to combine the two positions when he sees fit, but the reasons for doing so on Wednesday have not been disclosed. According to AP, while the preliminary report said the control configuration was “not normal,” a person familiar with the matter contradicted that, saying staffing in the air traffic control tower on Wednesday night was at a normal level. According to that anonymous source, the positions are regularly combined when controllers need to step away from the control panel for breaks, are in the process of a shift change, or air traffic is low.

Duplicating duties can pose problems for an air traffic controller if the airspace is congested. The two types of aircraft use different radio frequencies and the pilots of the plane and helicopter are not necessarily able to speak to each other even when they are in contact with the tower. According to The Washington Post, the day before the crash, another plane, Republic Airways Flight 4514, had to abort its landing approach to avoid colliding with another helicopter.

On Wednesday evening, according to the air traffic safety report distributed daily to air traffic managers and federal transportation officials, cited by The Washington Post, there were five controllers and one trainee controller on duty. In addition, there was one supervisor and one trainee supervisor.

The report says that not only was the helicopter controller position combined with that of local controller, but that afternoon the roles of flight data controller and clearance delivery controller had also been combined. Thus, according to The Post, there were two people instead of four handling air traffic control duties. The FAA has long struggled with a shortage of air traffic controllers and identified fatigue as a factor that could lead to errors.

Published reports say the helicopter deviated from its assigned route. It was flying higher than permitted and outside the approved training flight path, which was to have been on the east bank of the Potomac River, without interfering with the approach route for aircraft landing at Reagan National Airport. The helicopter’s captain was an experienced pilot, as was his female co-pilot.

Shortly before the accident, the air traffic controller asked the helicopter pilot if he had visual contact with the American Airlines plane, and the pilot confirmed this. The controller asked him to pass behind the aircraft, but just 20 seconds later he crashed into the jet.

Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are looking into all the circumstances that could have led to the accident. The agency’s task forces will examine the wreckage to deduce the angles of impact and determine the aircraft’s trajectory and altitude, they explained at a press conference at Reagan National Airport on Thursday. The NTSB will examine the role played by air traffic controllers in the accident. The agency expects to issue a preliminary report within 30 days.

Rescue teams recovered 28 bodies of victims of the crash on Thursday. Both the helicopter and the plane crashed into the Potomac River, on the banks of which Reagan National Airport is located.

Politicization of the accident

U.S. President Donald Trump politicized the accident by blaming his predecessors Barack Obama and Joe Biden for degrading the quality of air traffic control through diversity, equality and inclusion hiring policies. Trump said in a White House appearance that the FAA — where only a fraction of employees are controllers — is “actively recruiting workers who suffer ‘severe intellectual’ disabilities, psychiatric problems and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative spelled out on the agency’s website.”

“The FAA website states that these include hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism — all qualify for the position of a controller of airplanes pouring into our country,” he added.

In fact, during his first term in office in 2019, the FAA launched a program to “help prepare people with disabilities for careers in air traffic operations,” according to a memo from the agency published in April of that year.

Conservative media and Trump ally Elon Musk have already pointed to the FAA’s diversity and inclusion policies under Biden as the cause of the January 2024 crash of an Alaska Airlines Boeing jet that lost a part during flight, even though it had nothing to do with air traffic control. Snopes, a news verification outlet, revealed that the list on the FAA website of disabilities for which job opportunities were promoted that Trump cited Thursday had already been published by the FAA during his first term. Moreover, much of the government’s equal opportunity policy stems from a directive from 2003, when Republican George W. Bush was president.

Trump signed a memorandum on Thursday afternoon “to review all hiring decisions and changes to safety protocols made during the prior four years,” that is, during Biden’s term, and “to take such corrective action as necessary to achieve uncompromised aviation safety, including the replacement of any individuals who do not meet qualification standards [...] This review shall include a systematic assessment of any deterioration in hiring standards and aviation safety standards and protocols during the Biden Administration,” the resolution reads.

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