Pilots Warned of Dangerous Increase in Near Misses at U.S. Airports Before American Airlines Crash

Seventeen months before the deadly American Airlines crash in Washington, D.C., an investigation by the New York Times warned of a dangerous increase in — and worrisome underreporting of — near collisions at U.S. airports

On the night of Jan. 29, a CRJ700 passenger jet operating as a regional American Airlines flight collided in midair with a Black Hawk Army helicopter as the former was landing at Reagan International Airport. As of the morning of Jan. 30, no survivors have been found, according to officials. There were 60 passengers and four crew members on board the American flight and 3 soldiers aboard the helicopter.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) are investigating what led to the crash.

Related: Politicians Warned About Dangers Presented by Reagan Airport Months Before American Airlines Crash

In August 2023, the Times released a report digging into the recent alarming uptick in close calls happening between planes, both in the sky and on the tarmac, including why they happen and why the public often doesn't know about them.

According to the investigation, incidents involving aircrafts nearly coming into contact with one another have seen a rapid rise across the country, involving almost every airport and major airline.

The report cited a lack of warning systems at airports coupled with a staffing shortage of air traffic controllers as some of the main contributing factors to these near-catastrophes that happen, on average, multiple times a week.  

Related: Air Traffic Controller Asked Black Hawk Helicopter If It Had American Airlines Jet 'in Sight' Seconds Before Crash: Report

By analyzing a NASA database that contains confidential safety reports filed by pilots, air traffic controllers and other aviation professionals, the Times found the most recent 12-month period that had available data saw approximately 300 reports of close encounters.

“This has really opened my eyes to how the next aviation accident may play out,” a pilot wrote to NASA after preventing a collision on the runway in January 2023, according to the outlet.

After another near miss that same month, an air-traffic controller asked, “Is it going to take people dying for something to move forward?”

Speaking to the Times Wednesday night after the American Airlines collision, Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, who piloted the Miracle on the Hudson flight in 2009, weighed in on that sentiment.

“We’ve had to learn important lessons literally with blood too often, and we had finally gotten beyond that, to where we could learn from incidents, and not accidents,” he said.

In a separate interview with Good Morning America on Thursday morning, Sullenberger lamented that, "Any lapse [by a pilot] could potentially be fatal even though we have a lot of safety layers in there. If all the dominos line up in the wrong way, we can have on rare occasions, catastrophic event."

The last fatal crash involving a major U.S. airline occurred in February 2009 when a Continental flight crashed into a house outside of Buffalo, N.Y. killing all 49 people on board. The lack of collisions between that event and Wednesday night marked the longest period of time without a fatal crash from a major U.S. airline.

Related: President Trump Blames DEI for American Airlines Crash, Citing His Own 'Common Sense' and Scolding CNN's Kaitlan Collins

However, PEOPLE has reported on a number of near-misses in the last two years.

In January 2023, a Delta plane was preparing for take off when air traffic controllers noticed another craft crossing the runway in its path. Delta's Boeing 737 managed to safely stop roughly 1,000 feet short of an American Airlines Boeing 777, according to the FAA.

Similarly, in February 2023, a Boeing 737 operated by Southwest Airlines was due to depart just before a FedEx 767 cargo plane was landing. To avert a crisis, the FedEx plane changed course, aborting the landing. "The pilot of the FedEx airplane discontinued the landing and initiated a climb out," the FAA reported. "The Southwest flight departed safely.

A major problem, the New York Times reported, was the lack of properly staffed air-traffic control centers.

Of the country’s 313 facilities nationwide, only three had enough people to meet the staffing targets recommended by the FAA and the union representing the controllers as of August 2023. Many of these controllers are also asked to work six days a week with mandatory overtime, sometimes leading to just eight hours between a shift.  

This has been a growing problem since the 1980s, says the outlet. The Reagan administration cut thousands of controllers who were on strike, and since, the department has seen departures in waves as controllers approach retirement age with no new trainees to take their place. 

In June 2023, the Department of Transportation’s Inspector General released a report stating, that the “FAA has made limited efforts to ensure adequate controller staffing at critical air traffic control facilities."

Speaking to the American public on Thursday, Jan. 30 President Donald Trump speculated, "We think we have some pretty good ideas" about what caused the crash. "We'll find out how this disaster occurred and make sure that nothing like this ever happens again."

Trump also announced that he appointed an acting commissioner to the FAA for the investigation.

Read the original article on People