Why Are So Many Helicopters Flying Around a Busy Airport in the Middle of Washington DC?
The answer is Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling
It’s amazing how uncurious the mainstream media has been about this question. I suppose they have been advised to keep this angle on the recent aviation disaster out of their stories. They just go with “It’s a busy area with lots of commercial and military aircraft” and leave it at that. “National security” is probably invoked.
But the answer to the question is very simple. Directly across the Potomac River from Reagan International Airport is Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling.
Joint Base Anacostia–Bolling (JBAB) is a 905-acre military installation, located in Southwest Washington, DC, established on 1 October 2010 in accordance with congressional legislation implementing the recommendations of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission. The legislation ordered the consolidation of Naval Support Facility Anacostia and Bolling Air Force Base, which were adjoining but separate military installations into a single joint base, one of twelve formed in the country as a result of the law. The base hosts the Defense Intelligence Agency Headquarters amongst its other responsibilities. The only aeronautical facility at the base is a 100-by-100-foot (30 by 30 m) helipad.
All of the information on the map above is taken straight from Google Maps on satellite view. You can look around for yourself, zooming way down to examine each component command and service facility, from the headquarters of the Defense Intelligence Agency to the base barber shop. Please don’t be concerned about my disclosing any secrets, anybody on the planet with an internet connection can see the same thing. I merely labeled a screen shot with the names of the various commands.
I’m only guessing, but I’d bet there are more generals and admirals per square mile on Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling (JBAB) than anywhere other than the Pentagon, which is located a short helicopter hop two miles to the northwest. CIA headquarters is twelve miles up the Potomac “as the crow flies,” but anybody who is familiar with driving inside the DC Beltway knows that while a helicopter ride might take ten minutes, the same drive by automobile can take over an hour, depending on traffic conditions.
So for the convenience of all of the high-ranking generals, admirals and members of the Senior Executive Service assigned to JBAB, the Army established units like the 12th Aviation Battalion. The 12th AvBatt is based at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, which is about 15 miles to the southwest. So as you can imagine, the air corridor along the Potomac between CIA HQ, the Pentagon, the White House, JBAB and Fort Belvoir is virtually a “helicopter highway.”
Not to be outdone in glamour and prestige by the president’s “white top” helicopters, the Army came up with “gold top” luxury Black Hawks to shuttle their VIP brass—as well as civilian SES bigshots—between their many Washington-area HQs and commands. Their precious time is simply far too valuable to be wasted sitting stuck in traffic among the restless peasants! They have Very Important Business to attend! So only the very best will do for our senior brass. PAT-25 was the call sign of the deadly Black Hawk which destroyed itself and the airliner. PAT stands for Priority Air Transport, which is military-speak for VIP helo transportation.
And this, dear readers, is why military helicopters are routinely flying directly under the busy airliner flight path descending into Reagan National Airport. To me, this is just as insane as having a “safe pedestrian corridor” across an active rifle range. “Just crawl on your hands and knees, and don’t stick your head up, and you’ll be fine.”
Madness. It appears that PAT-25 flew slightly outside of its assigned corridor and popped up to 350 feet from its maximum allowed 200, and an aviation catastrophe ensued, resulting in the loss of 67 lives. How long does it take a Black Hawk that is cruising along at between 100 and 170 knots to rise a mere 150 feet in altitude? Seconds. And four seconds after impact, the fiery wreckage of American Eagle Flight 5342 impacted the icy Potomac, killing all 64 aboard. Video of below screen capture at this link.
Our elite military and federal brass, the generals, admirals and the SES, want the best of all worlds. They want to live and work in a prime Washington location, near all their HQs and commands. But they don’t want to sit stuck in automobile traffic with the peons. So they were willing to carve out an exceptional helicopter corridor directly under a busy airport’s approach path, with helicopters and airliners often passing danger close.
This is just as insane as my hypothetical active rifle range with a “safe pedestrian corridor” between the firing line and the targets. A disaster was bound to happen between JBAB and Reagan International, and finally, it did.
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