Now, as we sift through the wreckage of American Airlines Flight 5342, which collided with a US Army Black Hawk helicopter on January 29, killing all 67 people onboard both aircraft, we’re learning that a key hotline between Reagan National Airport and the Pentagon was rendered inoperable in 2022.
A hotline connecting air traffic controllers at Reagan National Airport and their counterparts at the Pentagon has been “inoperable” since March 2022, a Federal Aviation Administration official confirmed Wednesday, further evidence of poor safety coordination between federal agencies responsible for the airspace where a midair collision in January killed 67 people.
—
