WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. senators on Thursday criticized the Federal Aviation Administration for failing to act for years to address helicopters in “dangerous proximity” to commercial airplanes near Reagan Washington National Airport.
“Why did the FAA not act on 15,000 reports of dangerous proximity? How were these helicopter routes allowed to remain when alarm bells were literally going off in the towers?” asked Senator Maria Cantwell at a Senate hearing on the fatal January 29 collision between an Army helicopter and an American Airlines regional passenger jet that killed 67 people near Reagan Washington National Airport.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
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