The U.S. Army has refused to turn over a 2024 report detailing why it has routinely failed to use a safety system known as ADS-B on helicopter flights around Reagan Washington National Airport, Republican and Democratic senators said on Monday. An Army Black Hawk helicopter did not have ADS-B operating during a routine training mission when it collided with an American Airlines regional jet on January 29, killing 67 people. ADS-B, or automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast, is an advanced surveillance technology that transmits an aircraft's location. Senate Commerce Committee chair Ted Cruz, a Republican, and Senator Maria Cantwell, the top Democrat on the panel, had demanded the Army turn over the report by Friday. "It is completely unacceptable that our request has been repeatedly ignored and that the Army continues to obstruct the committee’s investigation into this horrific accident," Cruz and Cantwell said in a joint statement. Cruz last week at a hearing pressed Army General Matt Braman, the director of Army aviation, on its failure to use ADS-B on most flights. "I want to encourage the Army right now to revisit that policy and to revisit that policy today," Cruz said. "If today another accident occurs over DCA (Reagan National) with another helicopter that had ADS-B out turned off, the Army will have very direct responsibility for that." Civilian airplanes must use ADS-B, but the Federal Aviation Administration in 2019 gave the military an exemption in rare circumstances. Senators say the military has rarely if ever used ADS-B in Washington training flights.<br/>
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An air traffic controller was charged with assault and battery after an “incident” at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Thursday night, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority told CNN in a statement. Damon Marsalis Gaines, 39, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, was charged with assault and battery, according to the airport. “The employee is on administrative leave while we investigate the matter,” the FAA told CNN. The arrest comes at an airport under scrutiny since January’s mid-air collision between a military helicopter and a passenger plane. The day after the arrest, another close call happened when military jets flying to nearby Arlington National Cemetery set off a collision alarm in a Delta Air Lines plane that was taking off.<br/>
Boeing will be busy this week, as the company’s CE gears up to testify before a Senate committee and as Boeing attorneys work through civil and criminal cases related to the 737 Max. CEO Kelly Ortberg is scheduled to be the lone witness testifying on 2 April during a hearing of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transformation. Titled “Safety First: Restoring Boeing’s Status as a Great American Manufacturer”, Ortberg is to discuss and answer questions about actions Boeing has taken to “address production deficiencies and safety issues identified after the Alaska Airlines flight 1282 incident last year”, the committee says. Boeing has been under intense regulatory scrutiny following that incident, which involved the in-flight failure of an Alaska Airlines’ 737 Max 9’s mid-cabin door plug. Investigators traced the incident to failure by Boeing staff to install four bolts intended to secure the plug. The pilots landed the jet safely and without serious injuries to passengers or crew, but the event made clear Boeing had not adequately addressed quality and safety problems at its Renton manufacturing site. The hearing comes as Boeing’s legal struggles continue. Last week, judge Reed O’Connor with US District Court for the Northern District of Texas set a 23 June start date for Boeing’s criminal trial on charges that it defrauded the Federal Aviation Administration during the 737 Max’s certification.<br/>
Disruptions to the supply chain that are delaying aircraft deliveries are lessening and Airbus is getting much better at managing it, a senior company executive said on Monday. The European planemaker, which delivered 766 jets last year, roughly in line with its target, has been facing industrial delays due partly to problems in the aerospace supply chain, which have also hampered the recovery of embattled U.S. rival Boeing. "I view it as getting better but it will take a bit longer before it comes back to where it was before the pandemic." Right now the main bottlenecks are engines, he said, speaking at a hotel at Taiwan's main international airport in Taoyuan. "We're not getting the engines that we need to deliver the aircraft." De Saint-Exupery was in Taiwan to sign an order with the island's larger carrier China Airlines for 10 Airbus A350-1000s. In December, China Airlines said it would split an order for its long-haul fleet renewal between Boeing and Airbus and buy freighters from the U.S. planemaker in a closely watched deal worth almost $12b. China Airlines said it would buy 10 Boeing 777-9 aircraft and 10 Airbus A350-1000s as well as four 777-8 freighter aircraft for $11.9b at list prices, with deliveries for the new aircraft starting from 2029. "We were competing for the entire order but we knew it was going to be difficult," de Saint-Exupery told Reuters. "The airline is a (Boeing) 777-300 operator so their decision has some sense."<br/>