Texas senator says slew of false TCAS alerts near Reagan National was caused by government testing.
Aircraft landing at Reagan National Airport (Photo: Shutterstock | Ceri Breeze)
New details have emerged about false traffic alerts that occurred near Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., earlier this month. During a Senate hearing on Thursday, Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said the alerts were caused by Secret Service and U.S. Navy activity.
Cruz stated that these alerts stemmed from the two agencies “improperly” testing counter-drone technology near the airport on March 1.
This testing came just over a month after January’s midair collision involving an Army Black Hawk helicopter and PSA Airlines CRJ-700 near the D.C. airport. The accident, which is still under investigation, killed all 67 on both aircraft.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary report, there were 15,214 loss-of-separation occurrences at the airport between commercial airplanes and helicopters between October 2021 and December 2024. The FAA has since halted nonessential helicopter operations near Reagan National after an “urgent” NTSB recommendation.
Despite “several” commercial aircraft receiving Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) alerts near the airport on March 1, there was no conflicting traffic, the FAA stated.
One Republic Airways crew noted an onboard alert at approximately 1,200 feet, adding that “there was something diving straight onto us,” per air traffic control audio recordings. Another PSA crew said it received two traffic advisories, warning of a nonimminent collision.
“ I think we were all alarmed that just a few weeks after the tragedy, commercial pilots were being told they were at imminent risk of a deadly midair collision,” Cruz said. “It’s now come to my attention that these warnings were caused by the Secret Service and the U.S. Navy and improperly testing counter drone technology at DCA.”
He added that the Navy was using the same spectrum band as TCAS, causing the false alerts. The FAA had previously warned the Navy and Secret Service against using this same band.
Acting FAA Administrator Chris Rocheleau confirmed the previous warning during the hearing.
“ Let me just say this deeply disturbing that just a month after 67 people died, while an approach to DCA that the Secret Service in Pentagon would inadvertently cause multiple flights to receive urgent cockpit alerts recommending evasive a action,” Cruz said. “It is inappropriate for such testing to occur at DCA given the facts of what occurred, and I expect this committee to investigate why precisely that happened.”
Editor’s Note: This story first appeared on FlyingMag.com
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