Report: Military lost contact with Black Hawk near DCA due to antenna being in the wrong place

Military air traffic controllers recently lost contact with an Army helicopter, leading to two commercial planes being instructed to perform go-arounds to prevent a potential collision at Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), where a tragic midair crash occurred in January claiming 67 lives.

On May 1, a Delta Air Lines Airbus A319 and a Republic Airways Embraer E170 at DCA were directed to conduct go-arounds as a U.S. Army Black Hawk Priority Air Transport helicopter was approaching the Pentagon Army Heliport, as reported by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

Brig. Gen. Matthew Braman, the director of Army Aviation, explained that a temporary control tower antenna was placed incorrectly, causing military air traffic controllers to lose contact with the Black Hawk helicopter for a brief 20-second period, according to The Associated Press.

A barge carrying a crane moves parts of the wreckage from the Potomac River in the aftermath of a collision between American Eagle Flight 5342 and a Black Hawk helicopter that crashed into the river near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, Feb. 5, 2025. (Reuters/Eduardo Munoz)

the previous administration’s transfer of airspace control from New York to Philadelphia.