Internal safety reports obtained by 60 Minutes reveal that one day before the January 2025 midair collision over Washington, D.C. that killed 67 people, there were two close calls between passenger jets and military helicopters.
On Jan. 28 around 4:30 p.m., a pair of Army helicopters approached Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, flying at a higher altitude than expected, sparking confusion inside the control tower.
At the same time, an American Airlines flight from Norfolk was descending. An alarm sounded in the airplane’s cockpit, instructing the jet pilot to climb quickly to a higher altitude and avoid a potential collision with the helicopters…