LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – The investigation into Wednesday’s devastating crash between an American Airlines jet and an army helicopter in Washington, D.C is just beginning, but already, many are wondering about the role of air traffic control.
FAA staffing issues blamed for fatal crash at North Las Vegas Airport: ‘Everyone on the team was exhausted’
“I would encourage everybody to wait until we get the NTSB report,” Dr. Bubb said Thursday. “They have access to the technology, the cockpit voice recorder, the black box.”
“We call it the flight data recorder,” Dr. Bubb continued. “And they are going to take a good look at that and do a forensic analysis to see what happened.”
A helicopter uses a spotlight on the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
In Southern Nevada, the final NTSB report on a deadly mid-air collision in 2022 was released this month.
On July 17, 2022, two planes – a Piper PA-46 and a Cessna 172N — collided about a quarter-mile from the end of a runway in North Las Vegas as both approached parallel runways, documents said.
The report said an air traffic controller used “poor judgment” when he did not monitor the landings.
Documents claimed pilot error as the main cause of the crash, which killed four people, but also cited air traffic control staffing issues, stating “everyone was exhausted.”
Both cases were tragic and unexpected, Dr. Bubb called the most recent incident in Washington, D.C. and the 67 lives lost a devastating blow to the aviation community.
“It’s been rough,” he concluded. “No doubt about it, our hearts go out to everybody.”
