May 3 (UPI) — Two commercial aircraft scheduled to land at Ronald Reagan National Airport on Thursday afternoon were forced to do “go-arounds” after a military helicopter allegedly took a scenic route to the Pentagon.
Delta Air Lines Airbus A319 and a Republic Airways Embraer E170 on Thursday were instructed by air traffic controllers to conduct go-arounds, which are maneuvers to abandon their planned landings and circle around for another approach.
The National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the incident along with the Federal Aviation Administration, said in a statement that the go-arounds were ordered because of a “U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter inbound to the Pentagon.”
The FAA, which identified the flights as Delta Air Lines Flight 1671 and Republic Airways Flight 5825, said the incident occurred around 2:30 p.m. EST on Thursday. Flight data from FlightAware shows the planes were delayed less than ten minutes.
UPI has reached out to the FAA for a summary of the incident, which was obtained by the Washington Post and reportedly described the route the helicopter took as “scenic.”
In the summary, the FAA found that the military helicopter was not in airspace that was newly restricted after a commercial plane collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk near the airport mid-air earlier this year, killing 67 people.
The FAA summary report found that the helicopter did not fly directly to the Pentagon from Fort Belvoir in Virginia and instead went around the Pentagon’s south and east sides, according to the Washington Post.
U.S. Army spokesperson Capt. Victoria Goldfedib told NBC News that the helicopter was flying “in accordance with published FAA flight routes and DCA Air Traffic Control” when it was told to do another pass by air traffic control at the Pentagon.
Flight 1671 was the first to abort its landing while carrying 97 passengers and five crew from Orlando, according to the Washington Post.
Then, the helicopter’s radar tracker went unresponsive for a few seconds as Flight 5825 was set to land, prompting air traffic controllers to abort that landing. That plane came within a half mile of colliding with the Black Hawk, which was coasting just 200 feet below it.
While an anonymous U.S. Army official shot down the characterization that helicopter’s route was “scenic,” the incident was criticized by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy as “unacceptable.”
“Our helicopter restrictions around DCA are crystal clear,” he said. “Safety must ALWAYS come first. We just lost 67 souls! No more helicopter rides for VIPs or unnecessary training in a congested DCA airspace full of civilians. Take a taxi or Uber — besides most VIPs have black car service.”
Duffy said he would be talking to the Defense Department about “why the hell” the rules were “disregarded.”
