Pentagon lost contact with Army helicopter on flight that caused jets to nix landings at DC airport
The Army is telling The Associated Press that military air traffic controllers lost contact with an Army helicopter for about 20 seconds as it neared the Pentagon on the flight that caused two commercial jets to abort their landings this month at a Washington airport. The aborted landings on May 1 added to general unease about continued close calls between government helicopters and commercial airplanes near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport following a deadly midair collision in January between a passenger jet and an Army helicopter that killed 67 people. Brig. Gen. Matthew Braman, the head of Army aviation, says the controllers lost contact with the Black Hawk on May 1 because a temporary control tower antenna had not been set up at the correct location at the Pentagon.