Aviation safety experts are raising questions about the staffing of air traffic controllers across the country after Wednesday’s near-collision at Reagan National Airport.
Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland is again sounding the alarm over the addition of flights at Regan National Airport. WTOP’s Mike Murilo reports this comes after the second time planes nearly collided on the runway there in less than two months.
Wednesday’s near-land collision between an American Airlines plane and a King Air plane at Reagan National Airport, the second near miss in a month, is once again raising questions about what aviation safety experts say There is a serious shortage of air traffic controllers across the country.
The Federal Aviation Administration has opened an investigation into this latest incident, when an American Airlines plane was taking off and nearly collided with a King Air plane landing on a shorter nearby runway.
About two-thirds of the way down Runway 1, the two runways intersect and air traffic controllers told the American flight to abort its takeoff as the King Air was on the ground and approaching the intersection. The American plane was approaching at an estimated 90 miles per hour and was within 1,300 feet of the King Air plane before stopping and skidding off the runway.
In the recordings, air traffic controllers can be heard urgently ordering the American Airlines pilot to stop takeoff and leave the main runway to avoid crossing paths with the smaller plane.
“American 2134, cancel takeoff clearance!” said an air traffic controller. “Zero alpha alpha, turn around! Walk!”
“Refusing takeoff, 2134,” a pilot responded.
“Zero alpha alpha, we can’t go around. “We were already on the ground,” said the pilot.
“American 2134, do you want to go back to the door?” the air traffic controller said.
“Yes, we have to talk to maintenance, but yes, I think we were above 80 knots, so we will have to get an inspection,” the pilot said.
The American plane was inspected and no damage was found. He finally left for Boston, about four hours later.
Retired airline captain and aviation safety expert John Nance told WTOP that this incident once again shows the urgent need for the FAA to hire and train air traffic controllers and bring them into the system once they are ready.
“We don’t have enough air traffic controllers. We don’t have enough training,” Nance said. “We still have air traffic control fatigue and we are not addressing these issues quickly enough.”
However, even if this issue were addressed immediately, years of training are still needed before controllers can work in larger, busier airports and air traffic control facilities.
In early May, President Joe Biden signed the new five-year FAA reauthorization bill that the National Air Traffic Controllers Association and others say will improve staffing at airports and facilities air traffic control.
This latest incident at Reagan National comes just a month after a similar incident involving two planes, one from Southwest and the other from JetBlue. The FAA also opened an investigation into that incident, and in that case, the two planes came within 400 feet of each other.
Nance said the aviation system has multiple redundant collision avoidance systems, but the margin of safety is increasingly narrow.
“The problem is that we can’t continue to rely on backup systems to do it. One of these days we are going to have a tragedy,” he stated.
The situation has several senators representing Maryland and Virginia, as well as several members of the House of Representatives, concerned. They opposed a measure in the FAA reauthorization bill to significantly expand the number of long-haul flights from Reagan to the West Coast, and already several airlines are competing to win those coveted slots.
Maryland U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen said that instead of adding flights from Reagan, the region’s two largest airports, Dulles International and BWI Marshall, should be used for those five additional landings and takeoffs being added to Reagan .
He said Congress’ decision to expand flights at Reagan is “wrong and this is another very scary moment.”
While they await the outcome of the FAA investigation, Van Hollen said he will work with his Virginia colleagues to see if there is a way to “recapture” the additional positions at Reagan.
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