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Investing.com -- A U.S. government watchdog has initiated an audit of the Federal Aviation Administration’s oversight of airspace around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport following a fatal midair collision in January.
The Transportation Department’s Office of Inspector General announced the audit on Friday, one week after an investigative hearing into the crash between a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ:AAL) regional jet that killed 67 people.
During the hearing, National Transportation Safety Board members questioned FAA officials about how they failed to identify problems in the airspace surrounding Reagan airport.
The NTSB discovered more than 15,000 incidents between October 2021 and December 2024 where commercial planes and helicopters came within an unsafe distance of each other.
FAA Deputy Administrator Chris Rocheleau and other agency leaders have admitted that risks were overlooked and committed to improving safety measures.
In response to the collision, the FAA has implemented restrictions on helicopter flights near the airport and reduced exemptions allowing aircraft to fly without broadcasting their location using ADS-B Out technology. The Army helicopter involved in the crash was equipped with this technology but wasn’t transmitting data on the night of the accident.
The Office of Inspector General stated it will assess the FAA’s management of Reagan airport airspace and review policies for overseeing ADS-B Out exemptions. The audit is scheduled to begin this month.
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