Just over a month after the deadly crash of an American Airlines flight and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan National Airport, a Michigan congressman introduced legislation in Congress on Monday aiming to prevent similar collisions in the future.
U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett, a Charlotte Republican and former Army helicopter pilot, said his bill would direct the Pentagon to study the feasibility of installing collision-avoidance systems on all U.S. military helicopters.
The bill also calls for a feasibility study on installing an advanced surveillance technology known as Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) on military helicopters, according to a bill summary.
The thinking is that had the Black Hawk been equipped with the same crash avoidance system as the airliner had, and the two aircraft had been able to communicate that way, their fate might have been avoided. Sixty-seven people were killed in the Jan. 29 crash, which occurred over the Potomac River.
“At its most optimal and appropriate sense, both aircraft would have to have this system in place in order for it to work appropriately,” Barrett said in an interview.
“If two aircraft are converging on one another in a dangerous way, it will give an audio signal to the pilot in both cockpits advising them which direction to turn away from each other … to deconflict. That only can work if both aircraft have the system installed.”
The crash-collision systems are not currently built into most military helicopters because they’re not necessary for the combat-profile that they’re designed for, Barrett noted. Cost is also a factor.
“The reality, though, is that military aircraft are operating in mixed air space with civilian aircraft quite often,” Barrett said. “I think this would be a really important piece of redundancy that could help, hopefully ― would have helped avoid what happened here in Washington, D.C.”
Barrett said he consulted other military pilots, and it seems that most of the fixed-wing aircraft already have the crash-avoidance system installed, but rotary-wing aircraft do not. This is possibly in part because fixed-wing aircraft often take off and land from runways that are intermingled with civilian aircraft, he said.
The National Transportation Safety Board is expected to release its preliminary report on its investigation of the Jan. 29 crash in the coming weeks.
Shortly before the crash, the crew onboard the Black Hawk helicopter was informed by air traffic controllers to look for the American Airlines flight, a Canadair Regional Jet. The Black Hawk crew, which was wearing night-vision goggles, acknowledged they had the plane in sight.
But investigators have said audio recordings suggested the helicopter crew may not have seen the airliner and instead mistook another departing plane that had just taken off from Runway 1.
The legislation, which Barrett introduced with Democratic U.S. Rep. Jen Kiggins of Virginia, asks the Department of Defense to complete the feasibility study within 90 days. Kiggins is a former a helicopter pilot for the U.S. Navy.
“It’s my hope that they would share a motivation that I have to improve the safety and outcome of these flights to the to the best that we’re able,” Barrett said.
Their bill is modeled after the legislative effort to address the trend of armored vehicle rollover accidents, which killed 85 troops in Army and Marine Corps tactical vehicles between 2012 and 2019, according to a Government Accountability Office report.
Barrett said that effort also began with a feasibility study before, ultimately, the requirement to fix the problem.
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Source: American Military News
