WASHINGTON (7News) -- The NTSB has released its preliminary report into the May 1 near-miss between an Army UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter and a commercial flight at Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA).
The helicopter -- operating as Priority Air Transport (PAT) 23 -- was landing at the Pentagon, and an Embraer 170, Republic Airways flight 5825, was on approach to DCA.
According to the report, the closest proximity between PAT23 and RPA5825 was 0.4 miles laterally and 200 feet vertically.
The Army's Priority Air Transport is the same Army helicopter unit that was involved in the mid-air collision over the Potomac River on January 29, 2025, that killed 67 people.
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Robert Katz, a flight instructor and commercial pilot with 43 years of experience, told 7News that what he found in this report is a breakdown in communication and procedures between the National Airport controller and the helicopter crew.
The controller, he pointed out, never told the helicopter to contact the Pentagon controller, and that is why the Pentagon controller asked the helicopter crew who cleared them to land, as the report stated.
Katz said it is his opinion that both the DCA tower controller and the helicopter pilot were operating outside of normal procedures.
The controller, he pointed out, never told the helicopter to contact the Pentagon controller, and that is why the Pentagon controller asked the helicopter crew who cleared them to land, as the report stated. The report also stated that the helicopter pilot reported "landing assured" when it was observed climbing back up above the Pentagon building and proceeded to circle the building a second time, which Katz believes could potentially cause a conflict with the next arrival into DCA.
"What we have here is a helicopter that is circling east of the Pentagon and, in doing so, is very close to the approach path into National Airport. The airplane is descending 200 feet down to the ground. Presumably, the helicopter is flying no higher than 200 feet. The question is, how far apart they are here?"
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Katz also asked why that helicopter needed to be circling east of the Pentagon? By flying east of the Pentagon, it placed the helicopter closer to the DCA approach than necessary, he pointed out.