Duffy, authorities demand pay for workers during shutdown
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has called on Congress to pay air traffic controllers and said flight delays will only get worse during the grounding.
The National Transportation Safety Board announced on Sunday, Nov. 2, that it is sending a team to investigate a close call between a Southwest Airlines passenger plane and a medical helicopter that occurred on Oct. 29 near Cleveland Hopkins International Airport in Ohio.
The NTSB said Southwest Airlines Flight 1333 was on final approach from Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) when the two aircraft experienced a loss of separation, or approaching each other beyond the required minimum safe distance.
This caused the Southwest pilot to abort the landing. Southwest Airlines said the Boeing 737 landed safely a short time later.
The NTSB and Southwest Airlines did not disclose the number of passengers and crew on the plane. Judging from the identity of the helicopter at the time, it appears the helicopter was transporting a patient at the time of the incident.
“We appreciate the professionalism of our crew members in responding to the situation. We are working with the National Transportation Safety Board and assisting with the investigation,” Southwest Airlines said in a statement on Sunday, Nov. 2.
Representatives for the medical transportation company did not respond to requests for comment.
On January 29, a mid-air collision between an American Airlines regional jet and a U.S. military helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on the outskirts of the U.S. capital killed 67 people and raised alarm over a close call between commercial planes and helicopters.
Southwest plane had to veer off course
Air traffic control audio and flight tracking showed that the Southwest plane was forced to veer off course to avoid a Eurocopter helicopter that was passing in front of it in the Cleveland incident, according to flight tracking website Flightradar 24. At one point, the planes were at an altitude of 2,075 feet (632 meters) and as close as 0.56 miles (0.9 kilometers) apart, the site said.
According to audio posted by Flightradar24, air traffic controllers asked the helicopter to pass behind other aircraft traffic near the airport, to which the helicopter pilot replied, “If possible, it’s better to fly over and in front of it,” and the controller agreed.
In a report to the Federal Aviation Administration, Southwest said the accident was an “extremely close” incident that required immediate action to avoid a collision, two people briefed on the matter said. The FAA announced last month that it was rerouting helicopters near BWI and Washington Dulles International Airport to add a buffer zone after the January crash and President Reagan’s crash.
The FAA has faced criticism from U.S. lawmakers and NTSB investigators for failing to act on reports of near-miss incidents before the Jan. 29 crash. The Army Black Hawk helicopter was above its maximum allowable altitude when it crashed. Both the helicopter and the airliner crashed into the Potomac River.
In May, the FAA banned the Army from flying helicopters near the Pentagon after a close call that forced two civilian planes to ground on May 1.
In March, the NTSB revealed that since 2021, there have been 15,200 air separation incidents between commercial aircraft and helicopters near President Reagan, including 85 close calls.
