Air traffic controller blamed for deadly January 29 Washington crash

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has cited a possible error by an air traffic controller as the cause of the January 29 plane crash in Washington that claimed 67 lives.

According to Report, referencing The Washington Post, the FAA stated that the controller failed to warn the crew of an American Airlines passenger jet about the rapid approach of a US Army Black Hawk helicopter.

Nick Fuller, a representative of the FAA, said during hearings at the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) that the control tower should have alerted the airliner to the Black Hawk’s flight path before the collision.

The controller was required to inform the crew that the helicopter was using visual separation and that the targets were likely to converge, Fuller noted.

NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy added that the controller, who was responsible for both the helicopter and the airliner, was handling communications with 21 different aircraft in the 10 minutes leading up to the crash over the Potomac River. The controller told investigators he felt “overwhelmed” about 15 minutes before the accident.

The FAA reported that 79 planes were taking off and landing every hour at the capital’s airport at the time.