Danasia Elder was fantastic at her job. Before she died in the horrible plane crash over the Potomac, I flew with her just a couple of weeks ago. She seemed to be filled with joy. She visibly cared about doing a great job. Danasia wasn’t phoning it in. When you are on planes a lot, you notice the best flight attendants, and Danasia was one of the best.
I also recently flew with the pilot, Jonathan Campos, and Ian Epstein, the other flight attendant. I remember Ian because he was bit of a character.
My short personal interactions with these souls, refreshingly dedicated folks who seemed to care about their work, is what makes me even more furious about the tragedy.
There is one thing we know for sure about the terrible airline disaster that occurred close to Reagan National Airport that tragically took the lives of 67 people – it was entirely preventable. Why? A glaring defect in the flight rules governing the restricted airspace around Washington, D.C., and the airport of the nation’s capital allowed this to happen.
I will admit that I am not a pilot. But I have taken many hundreds of flights in and out of DCA, as it is known by its official call letters. Moreover, I have been a commuter into Washington from Virginia for more than two decades.
I have witnessed many flights coming into and out of DCA, as well as the frequent helicopter traffic along the Potomac River.
I know from that experience that the Army Black Hawk helicopter that collided with the American Airlines passenger jet should never have been anywhere close to the flight path of that airliner – and it wouldn’t have been except for that reckless defect in the special flight rules.
What am I talking about? The District of Columbia is a “Special Flight Rules Area” that restricts air traffic around the city and DCA. The special rules extend out to 30 miles around D.C. and are even more restricted within a 15-mile radius of the city and the airport.
Because of the flight restrictions and because DCA is such a small airport, all flights leaving DCA and all flights landing at DCA on final approach along the longest runway at DCA come in either from the north along the Virginia side of the Potomac or from the south along the Virginia side of the Potomac to avoid crossing over D.C. and the restricted flight area.
But what have I, and Washington commuters and residents, witnessed for many years? Police, television, and most notably, military helicopters flying along the Potomac River, including flying past DCA.
The river is their own private helicopter highway. The problem is, it is the final approach path for airliners.
Helicopters should not be competing for airspace with passenger jets, period.
There is also a helicopter pad at the Pentagon, which is just west of DCA in Arlington County. I have driven past the Pentagon for decades. I can’t tell you how many times I have seen helicopters, including Black Hawks, taking off from the Pentagon and heading east—towards where? The Potomac and DCA.
No one questions the professionalism of these pilots. They fly sophisticated airframes that are well maintained and are constantly talking to the towers at DCA and the other airports in the region, while the FAA has special routes laid out for them to use.
But the risk posed by government helo operations, so close to DCA, are simply not worth the benefits. It has to stop.
These flights should not be allowed, and the special flight rules for Washington should have been changed years ago. Unless it is really an actual emergency situation, no helicopter flights should be allowed along the Potomac River anywhere in the vicinity of DCA by anyone, military or otherwise.
Fly low over my house. Don’t make an Embraer abort a landing on 33. Don’t cause chaos, as happened even the day before the crash.
And helicopters taking off in Virginia – such as from the Pentagon – should be forced to fly west and then south or north through Virginia until they are past the incoming and outgoing flight paths for airliners landing at DCA. Only once they are past those flight paths should they be allowed to cross east over the Potomac River into Maryland.
The same for Maryland helicopters — none of them should be allowed to fly along the Potomac or the western boundary of the District of Columbia within the flight paths of jets coming in and out of DCA. The fact that this has been going on for so long is shocking and nothing less than reckless negligence.
If these rules had been in place on January 29, 2025, the Black Hawk helicopter would not have collided with American Flight 5342. Danasia could brighten my travel on another trip.
This change should be made immediately. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth should issue the same directive to all military helicopters operating in the metropolitan D.C. area, including those at the Pentagon. And D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser should do the same for metropolitan police and other local government helicopters.
Please fly over my house, not my flight path. There is not a minute to lose.
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