US House panel opens investigation into fatal January jet-helicopter collision

By David Shepardson

A U.S. House of Representatives oversight subcommittee said on Thursday it is investigating the collision in January between an Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines regional jet that killed 67 people near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

The House Oversight subcommittee on Military and Foreign Affairs said they are probing the crash and the military's use of airspace in the U.S. capital region.

They asked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to detail the steps the military "is taking to ensure that this type of accident does not happen again." Many lawmakers want to know why the Army helicopter was not using a key safety system at the time of the Jan. 29 collision.

Republican U.S. Representative William Timmons, who chairs the subcommittee, and the panel's top Democrat, Suhas Subramanyam, also want to know why the pilot was wearing night vision goggles for a routine training flight and a list of steps the Defense Department "is taking to ensure military operations do not interfere with the safety of American air travel and steps to prevent this incident from reoccurring."

The Pentagon said it would respond directly to the lawmakers.

On Tuesday, the National Transportation Safety Board made an urgent safety recommendation that was quickly adopted by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to make permanent restrictions to prevent helicopters from flying near Washington Reagan when two lesser-used runways are operational.

Two senators this week asked the U.S. Army to explain why it routinely failed to use a key safety system during helicopter training flights.

Senate Commerce Committee Chair Ted Cruz and Senator Jerry Moran, who heads an aviation subcommittee, on Tuesday also urged the head of Army Aviation to answer questions about the collision and to testify at a March 27 hearing on the crash.

The Black Hawk did not have a key safety system known as ADS-B operating at the time of the collision, investigators say.

ADS-B, or automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast, is an advanced surveillance technology that transmits an aircraft's location.

U.S. airline group Airlines for America last week called for military aircraft to be required to use ADS-B near large airports to broadcast their position to avoid collisions.

The senators also wanted to know how often the Army transports flag officers by helicopter and how often it turns off ADS-B, an action permitted for military aircraft.

Civilian airplanes must use ADS-B to broadcast their location, but the Federal Aviation Administration in 2019 gave the military an exemption in rare circumstances. It appears the military is routinely failing to use the safety system in training flights, lawmakers say.