Kansas senator questions why passenger jet, military helicopter could not directly communicate

Sen. Roger Marshall, Kansas Republican, wants to know why a military helicopter that crashed into a commercial jet carrying passengers from his state was allowed to occupy the same airspace without the ability to directly communicate with the civilian airplanes.

Mr. Marshall is among several lawmakers asking questions in the wake of the crash that killed all 60 passengers and four crew members on board the American Airlines flight from Wichita to Washington, as well as the three people on the military helicopter.

The collision occurred over the Potomac River as the American Airlines flight was preparing to land at Reagan National Airport. The military helicopter was out for a training flight and was asked by air traffic control in the seconds before the crash whether it saw the plane, but it was too late.

“I think that there was certainly a problem with the general policy of allowing military helicopters in this airspace without an ability to communicate with the civilian airplanes,” Mr. Marshall said.

He said the military and civilian transponders that allow aircraft to know whether another is nearby did not appear to be communicating with each other in this case.

“So I think that’s a huge problem,” Mr. Marshall said. “Why would we be letting military helicopters or police helicopters in this very busy airspace without that transponder working properly?”

The pilots also had no direct line to communicate with each other, with air-traffic control having to serve as the middleman, he said.

Mr. Marshall compared that to siloed communication between the Secret Service and local law enforcement in Butler, Pennsylvania, that contributed to the failure to stop a gunman who tried to assassinate President Trump last summer.

“Last point, there’s no way that that helicopter and that jet should have been at the same altitude,” he said. “The air traffic control should have corrected that minutes, several minutes before it happened. So I think there’s a lot to be uncovered there.”

Mr. Marshall declined to say whether he agreed with Mr. Trump’s assessment that relaxed standards for air traffic controllers due to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives of the Obama and Biden administrations was a factor in the crash.

But the senator praised Mr. Trump for his “radical transparency,” saying the National Transportation Safety Board declines to answer questions, promises to follow up with more information and then never does.

“I think we should err on the side of transparency,” Mr. Marshall said. “I think the president’s point is about meritocracy, that you don’t want your pilot or your ATC person to be hired based upon anything except merit.”

While Mr. Marshall has questions about the crash, he said his initial focus was grieving with and mourning with the Kansans and others who lost loved ones. He was set to meet with family members of the victims later Thursday.