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In the aftermath of the collision of a military helicopter and a civilian aircraft at Reagan Airport in Washington, DC, I'm left to consider the compatibility of civil airports with military training. The one I am most familiar with is the Portland, OR International Airport (PDX).
We do not have all the evidence at this time of how and what went wrong at the Reagan airport. Some reports indicate that the Army helicopter was on a training mission using a civilian airport. I won't discuss the DEI aspect of air controllers. I tend to believe that the amount of civilian air traffic at Reagan is not suitable for military training purposes.
PDX
"Jointly controlled by the Oregon Air National Guard
The host unit of the 142nd Fighter Wing
Civilian aircraft operations in 2023: 190K
Civilian passengers served in 2023: 16.5M"
PDX is considered one of the top 5 joint-use military/civilian airports in the US and has been operated that way since 1936. There are about 20+ F-15s based in Portland, two of which are fully armed and on alert status at all times. C-130s and Blackhawk helicopters call PDX home.
The Oregon Air Guard pilots operate and work with civilian air traffic controllers on a regular basis, which also enables them to operate with civilian air traffic controllers when they are deployed elsewhere in the US and overseas.
Once in a while, the F-15s based in Portland are given permission by air traffic controllers at PDX for an unrestricted climb.
Discussion (15)
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From my experience most airports can be joint, or full, military airports at the swath of a pen. A few examples are BDL, Bradley Hartford/Springfield airport. I was on the military side working for a contractor when Obama showed up to visit Sandy Hook. I've been there a hundred times and at a flip of a switch it seems like it became a military airport.
Another manufacturer of military equipment is at ROA, Roanoke. That can flip. Last year I was using my daughter's army bag on a business trip and it got stolen from right under my nose in a supposedly secure area. That city is really bad now.
An extreme example would be GRK, Ft. Hood in Killeen, TX. My daughter was stationed there and I visited frequently. It has every appearance of being a civilian airport but can convert in minutes. There are lots of other examples.
This has always worried me on how fast and drastic martial law could be imposed if it needed to be.
As far as communication goes between the two, I have absolutely no idea. I hope we get an explanation.
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You imply the doomed chopper was using the Reagan airport. I have heard information that is contrary to that. I heard that only the Coast Guard uses that airport. That said, the problem is that airspace is tight, because of all the traffic and special restrictions near the Capitol and White House.
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In any event, the helicopter was using the same air space as the commercial civilian airport.
The thing about commercial airports is that the traffic that they handle falls off dramatically after 1Am.
If the military needs to do training, perhaps the sensible policy would be to schedule the helicopter training missions at a better time.
Of course with EPA having strict noise abatement requirements, across the country and perhaps along this Washington DC corridor, maybe the public will just have to get used to every so often so many of us dying in plane crashes on account of our lacking the ability to handle such matters in a sensible way.
Back several decades, there was testimony by a three or four star general in front of the Nine Eleven Commission that the jets scrambled out of Langley AFB, in Hampton VA, some 130 miles out of DC, had to first fly over the ocean in order to comply with EPA regulations about noise and pollution! Some of this insane stuff has to face re-consideration.
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I fly near that airspace and my wife's office was located on the south Potomac approach to RR. When I visit her 5rd floor office which overlooks the Potomac one will see many helicopters flying north or south along the river @ ~1000' along the east side of the river. They typically are on there way to the various bases located north and south of the Woodrow Wilson bridge moving VIP's between the Naval yard, Bolling base, The Pentagon, Ft Belvoir, and Quantico Base.
This doesn't includes the path that Marine 1 (which will include several other helicopters in its contingent) will fly when they are relocating the President. I think he big foots it directly to where ever he is heading (eg Andrews, Camp David, local Maryland photo ops). If this occurs when us little GA guys are traversing the FRZ or SFRA (like when he visits the USNA) we are actively redirected well out of his path (unlike the normal separation limits (3 mile/ 1000'?) with other commercial traffic).
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I need to clarify some of my remarks in this post. The Oregon Air Guard base is located south of the passenger aircraft terminal on the 3,000-acre PDX facility. They share direct access to access taxiways and runways at PDX.
Army aviation does use the Reagan International Airport for VIP's to include Congressional members. I'm not sure why Congressional staffers can't drive Senators and House members, other than it is not as convenient as Reagan to Andrews AFB. This might take some of the pressure off, and increase safety at Reagan, or find another military base that is not as busy as Reagan.
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