{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://subramanyam.house.gov/media/press-releases/subramanyam-and-timmons-release-new-report-deadly-dca-crash-and-dod-use", "Subramanyam and Timmons Release New Report on Deadly DCA Crash and DOD Use of Civilian Airspace", "2025-12-22", "2025", "2025-12", "Democrat", "House", "VA", "Suhas Subramanyam", "S001230", "subramanyam.house.gov", "subramanyam", "https://subramanyam.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "December 22, 2025\n\nWASHINGTON\u2014Subcommittee on Military and Foreign Affairs Chairman William Timmons (R-S.C.) and Ranking Member Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.) today released a staff report titled, \u201cThe DCA Incident: Assessing the Military\u2019s Role in the National Airspace Tragedy.\u201d The report analyzes how the fatal mid-air collision between American Airlines flight 5342 and a U.S. Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter occurred and determined what failures \u2013 procedural, regulatory, or operational \u2013 within the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) may have contributed to the crash. Following the Military and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee\u2019s investigation, it is recommending that the DoD Inspector General conduct a comprehensive evaluation of all operations in civilian airspace within the United States with an emphasis on safety, coordination, and compliance.\n\n\u201cThe tragic accident at DCA on January 29th and thirty near misses overall have revealed that the military\u2019s current operations fall woefully short of keeping both military personnel and American civilians safe in Washington, D.C. airspace. Several briefings on this issue have highlighted the pressing need for clearer military flight protocols, enhanced training, and regular audits of flight operations and capabilities within the DoD. It is crucial that military personnel are given the tools and training they need to navigate this complex airspace and prevent accidents and miscommunications like these from ever happening again. The Subcommittee on Military and Foreign Affairs remains committed to this investigation and is upholding its responsibility to conduct oversight of U.S. military operations to ensure that both members of the military and civilians remain safe when sharing the nation\u2019s skies,\u201d said the lawmakers.\n\nBelow are key findings from the report:\n\nCommunication issues between the Black Hawk and the tower contributed to the January 29th crash: On March 11, 2025, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released its Aviation Investigation Preliminary Report. The findings of this report indicate that discrepancies in altitudes were reported by the pilot and the instructor pilot of the Black Hawk. Similarly, the report mentions that seventeen seconds before the collision, the tower directed the Black Hawk to \u2018pass behind the\u2019 Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ). However, according to the helicopter\u2019s cockpit voice recorder (CVR), a portion of \u2018pass behind the\u2019 may not have been heard by the crew.\n\nNight vision goggles (NVGs) limited the Black Hawk pilots\u2019 ability to see the American Airlines plane on January 29th: NVGs make it especially difficult to see peripherally and during flights with excessive bright light, like that seen coming from Washington and DCA. In an investigative hearing held by NTSB, Dr. Stephen Casner, a human factors expert, testified that when an aircraft is approaching head-on, it will not appear to be moving closer, and this approaching aircraft often looks the same as buildings and other objects while wearing NVGs, making it extremely difficult for pilots to detect oncoming traffic. Likewise, NVGs make it nearly impossible to detect color, which is critical when trying to detect the red and green anti-collision lights positioned on the side of aircraft.\n\nAutomatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) Out was not transmitting on the Black Hawk, preventing other aircraft and the public from detecting it on January 29th: Rick Dressler of Metro Aviation, which operates medical helicopters, stated during the NTSB hearing that his company\u2019s goal of maintaining \u201cextra vigilance\u201d while transporting critically ill passengers is \u201can extreme challenge when those aircraft [military helicopters] are not usually transmitting ADS-B\u201d meaning the company \u201ccan\u2019t see them on his traffic system\u201d and has to rely on see and avoid methods. The NTSB\u2019s investigation is still ongoing, and it is still being evaluated whether having ADS-B Out transmitting would have made a difference on the night of the January 29th collision.\n\nThe Army lacks certain knowledge of DCA airspace: Chief Warrant Officer Five David Van Vechten stated during the NTSB hearing that Army Black Hawk pilots are not trained on fixed-wing aircraft approaches to DCA runways, and this is based on \u201cpersonal knowledge.\u201d Additionally, when asked if there was a unit he was concerned about, Dressler of Metro Aviation, stated that when flying, the 12th Aviation Battalion, the unit of the U.S. Army Aviation Branch to which the Black Hawk was assigned, make his company \u201cuncomfortable\u201d due to what he described as \u201cgross misunderstandings\u201d of the airspace, including instances of military helicopters landing on MedSTAR helipads without prior notice.\n\nThe DoD to DCA hotline was offline, preventing direct communication between the Pentagon and DCA, showing the broader breakdown of critical air traffic coordination: This hotline, maintained by DoD, was severed during the construction of a new air traffic control tower at the Pentagon. Previously, the hotline was used to allow for seamless communication between the Pentagon\u2019s air traffic controllers and DCA\u2019s. FAA Aviation officials only discovered the hotline was offline after the May 1 near miss incident, when two commercial jets were forced to abandon their approaches to DCA due to an Army Black Hawk occupying the airspace.\n\nBased on the findings, the Subcommittee on Military and Foreign Affairs is recommending that the DoD Inspector General conduct a broad evaluation of the DoD\u2019s use of U.S. civilian airspace and its adherence to established aviation safety protocols. Such an evaluation would provide Congress and the public with an independent assessment of risks and opportunities to strengthen safety in shared airspace.\n\nRead the report here.\n\nRead the letter to Inspector General Moring here.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://subramanyam.house.gov/media/press-releases/subramanyam-and-timmons-release-new-report-deadly-dca-crash-and-dod-use"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.526143867522478, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}