‘Are You Kidding Me?’: NTSB Chair Blasts FAA over Washington DC Plane Crash

[mystery-ak]

‘Are You Kidding Me?’: NTSB Chair Blasts FAA over Washington DC Plane Crash

Olivia Rondeau 4 Aug 2025

National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) hearings on the devastating Washington, DC, helicopter-plane crash that killed 67 people revealed devastating findings last week, with Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy scolding the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for ignoring safety concerns.

The NTSB interrogated FAA and U.S. Army officials on the series of events that led to a Black Hawk helicopter colliding with a passenger jet as it descended into Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport during what the Associated Press (AP) described as “three days of sometimes contentious hearings.”

The 64 passengers and crew killed on the American Airlines flight included a group of young figure skaters, coaches, and family members returning from Wichita, Kansas, Breitbart News reported.

The helicopter also had no survivors, losing all three crew members in the tragic accident.

Last week’s hearings not only revealed that the Black Hawk’s altimeter gauge was broken, but that air traffic controllers had warned the FAA years earlier about the growing risk of helicopters flying in close proximity to landing airplanes.

“Are you kidding me? Sixty-seven people are dead! How do you explain that? Our bureaucratic process?” Homendy said to FAA officials at one point. “Fix it. Do better.”

As the Associated Press reported:

    The helicopter was flying at 278 feet (85 meters) — well above the 200-foot (61-meter) ceiling on that route — when it collided with the airliner. But investigators said the pilots might not have realized that because the barometric altimeter they were relying on was reading 80 to 100 feet (24 to 30 meters) lower than the altitude registered by the flight data recorder.

    The NTSB subsequently found similar discrepancies in the altimeters of three other helicopters from the same unit.

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https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2025/08/04/ntsb-chair-blasts-faa-washington-dc-plane-crash/

[DB]

It was reported that someone onboard the helicopter told the pilot that they were too high a minute or so before the crash.

[GtHawk]

Maybe the ongoing safety concerns she scolded the FAA about were the multitude of near misses that had been occurring between military and civilian aircraft in the DC airspace?

[rangerrebew]

Broken Altimeter, Ignored Warnings: Hearings Reveal What Went Wrong in DC Crash that Killed 67

Over three days of sometimes contentious hearings this week, the National Transportation Safety Board interrogated Federal Aviation Administration and Army officials about a list of things that went wrong and contributed to a Black Hawk helicopter and a passenger jet colliding over Washington, D.C., killing 67 people.

The biggest revelations: The helicopter's altimeter gauge was broken, and controllers warned the FAA years earlier about the dangers that helicopters presented.

 
At one point NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy scolded the FAA for not addressing safety concerns.

“Are you kidding me? Sixty-seven people are dead! How do you explain that? Our bureaucratic process?” she said. “Fix it. Do better.”

Victims of the January crash included a group of elite young figure skaters, their parents and coaches and four union steamfitters from the Washington area.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2025/08/04/broken-altimeter-ignored-warnings-hearings-reveal-what-went-wrong-dc-crash-killed-67.html

[mountaineer]

So the whole DEI unqualified helicopter pilot aspect of it is no longer relevant?

[DefiantMassRINO]

Defective altimeters?  What if a V.I.P. was being transported in one of those helicopters?  Is there only one altimeter, or are there redundancies?

Night flying pilots are more likely to be relying on their instruments than vision or perception.

Typical Government clusterF ... it was a series of failures by multiple parties and multiple agencies.

The cost of Nonsense (DEI) can not only be time, money, and opportunity, but also lives.

Many of the dead were airline passsengers were members of the Boston Skating Club and their family members.

Family members aren't getting any response from the military.

The military needs to explain and resolve faulty altimeters in a fleet of helicopters flying in such a congested area.  If the pilot was relying on instruments during night flight, it's less pilot error and more faulty equipment and maintenance.

[Mod2]

Topics merged

[GtHawk]

Defective altimeters?  What if a V.I.P. was being transported in one of those helicopters?  Is there only one altimeter, or are there redundancies?

Night flying pilots are more likely to be relying on their instruments than vision or perception.

Typical Government clusterF ... it was a series of failures by multiple parties and multiple agencies.

The cost of Nonsense (DEI) can not only be time, money, and opportunity, but also lives.

Many of the dead were airline passsengers were members of the Boston Skating Club and their family members.

Family members aren't getting any response from the military.

The military needs to explain and resolve faulty altimeters in a fleet of helicopters flying in such a congested area.  If the pilot was relying on instruments during night flight, it's less pilot error and more faulty equipment and maintenance.

C’mon man! We are supposed to believe that a helicopter with a critical piece of equipment was allowed to be taken out on a training flight…at night? Which DEI hire at the FAA came up with that BS to try and give cover to a female pilot who by all accounts should not even have been flying. I want all my pilots to suffer from bouts of vertigo,especially in a helicopter, don’t you?

[Smokin Joe]

But investigators said the pilots might not have realized that because the barometric altimeter they were relying on was reading 80 to 100 feet (24 to 30 meters) lower than the altitude registered by the flight data recorder.

    The NTSB subsequently found similar discrepancies in the altimeters of three other helicopters from the same unit.

 

[Timber Rattler]

Seems to me that the U.S. Army was more at fault in this terrible accident than the FAA.