KDCA 5/1/25 1830Z PAT23 Circles Pentagon / 2x Go-Arounds - RPA5825 Lost Sep

[baldiedc]

5/1/25 - PAT23 UH-60 Blackhawk cleared to proceed inbound to Pentagon (JPN) at 1827Z after holding West of DCA for gap in Rwy 19 arrivals, per the new separation procedures around DCA.  However PAT23 was instructed by Pentagon Tower to circle the Pentagon before landing, resulting in delayed landing and 2 go-arounds instructed by DCA Tower for DAL1671 @ 1831Z and RPA5825 @ 1833Z, with loss of separation for RPA5825.

https://avherald.com/h?article=52732de5&opt=0

The Heli feed now picks up Pentagon frequency (w/kudos to the feed provider), tho very low audio, attempted to amplify here.  Based on these transmissions it appears there may have been some procedural issue with the final landing clearance which comes from Pentagon Tower not DCA Tower, they were asked by Pentagon Tower to circle the pad before landing, causing delay for landing and some confusion in DCA Tower on PAT23’s intention to land or not.


*** Update 8/22/25 based on NTSB report (see post below):

DAL1671 Go-Around:
~1825Z DCA ATCT ALC controller coordinated with Potomac to ask for extended spacing between JIA5073 and RPA5825 that was next in sequence for runway 19; Potomac controller confirmed they would give them some space.
Between 1825Z and 1828Z Potomac sequenced DAL1671 into the extended spacing that they had advised DCA ATCT they would provide so that DCA ATCT could get PAT23 into the Pentagon.

RPA5825 Go-Around / Loss of Separation:
At about 1833Z, the DCA ATCT LC controller asked PAT23 if they were landing assured, and the crew advised they were landing assured. Simultaneously, according to information provided in post-incident interviews, the DCA ATCT LC saw PAT23 climb back up above the Pentagon building and immediately issued a go around to RPA5825 and instructed them to climb and maintain 3,000 feet and turn right heading 250°. The crew of RPA5825 acknowledged the go around, and read back the instructions, however separation had already been lost.

Pentagon Communications:
All information gathered confirmed that there had been no known or documented loss of communication at any time between JPN HT and PAT23, and that there had been no replacement or movement of any communication equipment since the event, and that information previously released regarding the potential loss of communications had been erroneous



Timeline (Z) per HELI feed
known PAT23/Pentagon Tower comms in italics

1820.55   PAT23 checks in with Tower around Springfield requesting Route 5 to Pentagon
1822.32   PAT23 instructed to hold 3 miles West of DCA
1823.26   PAT23 instructed to proceed to Glebe and hold
1825.15   PAT23 reports holding at Glebe
1826.52   PAT23 advised of "traffic at 10.5 mile final after that traffic will get you in" (this traffic is JIA5073)
1827.31   PAT23 instructed to proceed Route 5 to Pentagon
1828.16   TWR informs LUAW of traffic [DAL1671] 8 miles out for Rwy 19
1828.47   DAL1671 cleared to land Rwy 19
1828.51   PAT23 reports Glebe (mandatory reporting point)

1830.02   TWR clears departure on Rwy 19 with "traffic [DAL1671] at 4 out"
1830.44   PAT23 instructed to report "Landing Assured", PAT23 confirms "will do"
1830.59   PAT23 contacts Pentagon Tower (inaudible)

1831.05   DAL1671 instructed to go around, climb maintain 3000.  DAL1671 is in vicinity of Rosslyn at this point.
1831.21   TWR informs LUAW of traffic [RPA2825] 4 miles out
1831.28   PAT23 contacts Pentagon Tower "we have you loud and clear (? - inaudible)"
1831.37   RPA5825 cleared to land Rwy 19
1831.40   DAL1671 given heading 280
1831.48   DAL1671 switch to Potomac 118.95 (TYSON/Departure)
1831.50   PAT23 lengthy comms with Pentagon Tower (40s) - PAT23 instructed to circle counterclockwise at or below 200ft after circling Pentagon cleared to land.  Pentagon asks PAT23 if National Tower gave them clearance to land at the helipad (response inaudible)

1833.00   TWR: "PAT23 are you with me?" / "PAT23 with you" / TWR:"Are you guys landing assured?" / "Landing Assured for PAT23"
1833.12   PAT23 comms with Pentagon (14s) - reference to "... final inbound for DCA... come around... [inaudible]"
1833.16   RPA5825 instructed to Go Around, told to climb maintain 3000.  RPA5825 is ~2 miles of DCA at this point and continues to descend passing Pentagon (~0.5nm) at ~400ft [per ADSB-Exchange] before climbing out
1833.27   RPA5825 given heading 250

1834.04   PAT23 instructed by DCA Tower "Proceed Westbound now" (no immediate response)
1834.08   TWR:"PAT 23 Tower!" / "Go for PAT23" / TWR:"PAT23 Proceed Westbound now" / "PAT23 is at the Pentagon"
1834.19   TWR:"PAT23 confirm intentions are you trying to land at Pentagon?" / PAT23:"Affirm we were just landing at Pentagon"
1834.28   RPA5825 switch to Potomac 118.95 (TYSON/Departure)

1835.15   PAT32 lengthy comms with Pentagon Tower (50s), advising PAT23 that National Tower provides clearance to the area of the Pentagon but clearance to land at Pentagon needs to come from Pentagon Tower; on approach from Route 5 they should report at Air Force Memorial and would then get clearance to land.


Combination of Tower and Heli 1800/1830Z feeds, edited for time and content, not realtime etc.

[baldiedc]

This landing on 3/4 with a circle of the Pentagon during an arrival was referenced on social media, here are the details for reference and comparison to 5/1.  This would have been in early in the resumption of flights to the Pentagon following the 1/29 crash.  Note this landing pre-dated the NTSB recommendations for helicopter separation restrictions on 3/11 (https://www.ntsb.gov/safety/safety-recs/recletters/A-25-001-002.pdf) and FAA response (https://www.faa.gov/newsroom/faa-statement-ntsb-recommendations-dca), so it's possible procedures were further amended in March to require go-arounds for separation.

3/4/25 ~2200Z Blackhawk PAT24 landing at the Pentagon via Route 5:

• PAT24 held ~10 mins at Glebe (West of DCA) for gap in arrivals per the new procedures, before being cleared inbound ahead of DAL850 which was 9-10 miles out at that time
• PAT24 made initial contact with Pentagon after proceeding inbound (apparently missing on 5/1), possibly cleared to land (hard to hear), winds provided.
• PAT24 circled prior to landing, given instructions to circle counterclockwise at or below 200ft (similar to PAT23 on 5/1).  Hard to hear the reason for the circle in this case.
• DAL850 passed Pentagon on short final, landed Rwy 19 without go-around or advisory of the helicopter activity; no issue reported by DAL850 to Tower/Ground here.
• PAT24 requested frequency switch to the Pentagon (rather than providing 'landing assured' to DCA Tower as requested on 5/1).

Note - ADSB data for PAT24 is messy/unreliable around Pentagon in this case.

Timeline (Z):
2143 PAT24 requests Route 5 to Pentagon, approved and told to hold at Glebe
2148 PAT24 reports holding at Glebe, told to wait for about 5 arrivals
2159 PAT24 cleared inbound to Pentagon behind RPA4719, contacts Pentagon tower (also still on DCA Tower).  LUAW for Rwy 19 informed next arrival (DAL850) on 9 mile final.
2200 PAT24 comms with Pentagon to circle prior to landing
2200 DAL850 cleared to land Rwy 19
2201 PAT24 requests switch to Pentagon.  Winds reported 200 at 11 gusting 18.
2203 DAL850 lands

Recording combination of TWR and HELI feeds from 2130 and 2200.  Edited for time and content, not realtime.

[baldiedc]

*** Update 8/22/25 based on NTSB report (see post below):

DAL1671 Go-Around:
~1825Z DCA ATCT ALC controller coordinated with Potomac to ask for extended spacing between JIA5073 and RPA5825 that was next in sequence for runway 19; Potomac controller confirmed they would give them some space.
Between 1825Z and 1828Z Potomac sequenced DAL1671 into the extended spacing that they had advised DCA ATCT they would provide so that DCA ATCT could get PAT23 into the Pentagon.

RPA5825 Go-Around / Loss of Separation:
At about 1833Z, the DCA ATCT LC controller asked PAT23 if they were landing assured, and the crew advised they were landing assured. Simultaneously, according to information provided in post-incident interviews, the DCA ATCT LC saw PAT23 climb back up above the Pentagon building and immediately issued a go around to RPA5825 and instructed them to climb and maintain 3,000 feet and turn right heading 250°. The crew of RPA5825 acknowledged the go around, and read back the instructions, however separation had already been lost.

Pentagon Communications:
All information gathered confirmed that there had been no known or documented loss of communication at any time between JPN HT and PAT23, and that there had been no replacement or movement of any communication equipment since the event, and that information previously released regarding the potential loss of communications had been erroneous


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
5/23 - excerpts below from interview with the Army in the AP, 2 things of note:

1. Army refers to a 20 second loss of contact between Pentagon and PAT23 due to antenna issue, I am assuming in the above timeline this is referring to the time from 1830.59 to 1831.28, when it seems PAT23 initially contacted the Pentagon at 1830.59, there was a brief response 10s later at 1831.09 (content inaudible on the feed); PAT23 calls again at 1831.27 with more audible response at 1831.28 apparently referring to "have you loud ?and ?clear", which would seem to fit with comms issues.

2. "FAA air traffic controllers at the airport aborted the landing of a Delta Air Lines Airbus A319 during the Black Hawk’s initial flight toward the Pentagon because they realized both aircraft would be nearing the Pentagon around the same time" (i.e. unrelated to the comms/landing issue which caused the 2nd go-around for RPA8525); this would fit with the above timeline of a 4 min window between the arrivals with a ~2.5min flight time from Glebe to Pentagon, but it took 80s to leave the hold and get to Glebe.  DAL1671 is given go-around at 1831.05 just after PAT23 tries to contact Pentagon for the first time.

In the original audio mix I posted I had edited out some of the initial PAT23/Pentagon radio calls due to the noise, so I'm attaching the original HELI feed in realtime from 1830-1837 with Pentagon transmissions amplified, otherwise unedited.  PAT23 calls on Pentagon frequency are the higher pitch static first heard at 59s.


https://apnews.com/article/army-helicopter-airport-collision-airlines-ff0cacada07048c43b55c6c4afeef256

Pentagon lost contact with Army helicopter on flight that caused jets to nix landings at DC airport

WASHINGTON (AP) — Military air traffic controllers lost contact with an Army helicopter for about 20 seconds as it neared the Pentagon on the flight that caused two commercial jets to abort their landings this month at a Washington airport, the Army told The Associated Press on Friday. (...)

Brig. Gen. Matthew Braman, the head of Army aviation, told the AP in an exclusive interview that the controllers lost contact with the Black Hawk because a temporary control tower antenna was not set up in a location where it would be able to maintain contact with the helicopter as it flew low and rounded the Pentagon to land. He said the antenna was set up during construction of a new control tower and has now been moved to the roof of the Pentagon.

Braman said federal air traffic controllers inside the Washington airport also didn’t have a good fix on the location of the helicopter. The Black Hawk was transmitting data that should have given controllers its precise location, but Braman said FAA officials told him in meetings last week that the data the controllers were getting from multiple feeds and sensors was inconclusive, with some of it deviating by as much as three-quarters of a mile.

“It certainly led to confusion of air traffic control of where they were,” Braman said. (...)

The FAA declined to comment on whether its controllers could not get a good fix on the Black Hawk’s location due to their own equipment issues, citing the ongoing investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board. (...)

FAA air traffic controllers at the airport aborted the landing of a Delta Air Lines Airbus A319 during the Black Hawk’s initial flight toward the Pentagon because they realized both aircraft would be nearing the Pentagon around the same time, Braman said.

Because of the 20-second loss of contact, the Pentagon’s tower did not clear the Black Hawk to land, so the helicopter circled the Pentagon a second time. That’s when air traffic controllers at the airport decided to abort the landing of a second jet, a Republic Airways Embraer E170, because they did not have a confident fix on the Black Hawk’s location, Braman said.

[baldiedc]

NTSB issues the preliminary report for its ongoing investigation of the May 1 loss of separation event between a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter landing at the Pentagon Heliport and an Embraer 170 (Republic Airways flight 5825) on approach to Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) near Washington, DC.

https://x.com/NTSB_Newsroom/status/1958967232803058059

Note:

DAL1671 Go-Around:
~1825Z DCA ATCT ALC controller coordinated with Potomac to ask for extended spacing between JIA5073 and RPA5825 that was next in sequence for runway 19; Potomac controller confirmed they would give them some space.
Between 1825Z and 1828Z Potomac sequenced DAL1671 into the extended spacing that they had advised DCA ATCT they would provide so that DCA ATCT could get PAT23 into the Pentagon.

RPA5825 Go-Around / Loss of Separation:
At about 1833Z, the DCA ATCT LC controller asked PAT23 if they were landing assured, and the crew advised they were landing assured. Simultaneously, according to information provided in post-incident interviews, the DCA ATCT LC saw PAT23 climb back up above the Pentagon building and immediately issued a go around to RPA5825 and instructed them to climb and maintain 3,000 feet and turn right heading 250°. The crew of RPA5825 acknowledged the go around, and read back the instructions, however separation had already been lost.

Pentagon Communications:
All information gathered confirmed that there had been no known or documented loss of communication at any time between JPN HT and PAT23, and that there had been no replacement or movement of any communication equipment since the event, and that information previously released regarding the potential loss of communications had been erroneous