Former Secretary LaHood to Newsmax: Reagan Airspace 'Too Crowded'

The airspace where an American Airlines passenger jet and a military Black Hawk helicopter crashed is one of the most crowded in the United States, potentially leading to the deadly collision, former Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Friday on Newsmax.

"You have three international airports," LaHood, who served under President Barack Obama, said on "Wake Up America." "You have Dulles in Northern Virginia, you have Reagan in downtown Washington, D.C., and you have Baltimore just a few miles down the road in Maryland."

In addition, there are Andrews Air Force Base, the home of all Air Force planes used by the government, and a helicopter base "right across the river from Reagan Airport," said LaHood.

"People have to understand when they look at this, that it a space that I happen to think is too crowded," said LaHood, adding that the National Transportation Safety Board, while investigating the crash, "will probably look at it very carefully."

"Perhaps one of their recommendations will be that it is too crowded and there needs to be some relief somehow for this crowded airspace," he said.

LaHood noted that the country's last major commercial air disaster was in 2009 in Buffalo, 20 days after he was sworn in.

After pilot error was indicated by the NTSB as the cause of that accident, "We tried to utilize the accident in Buffalo to correct some problems that we found and were able to work with Congress and pass bipartisan legislation," he said.

"That's really probably the only good thing that came of this, and I hope that's the way that it works in this incident," he added.

LaHood said he also feels that current Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who was sworn in just two days before the Washington crash, is doing "very well."

"He doesn't really have responsibility for the investigation. As the secretary of DOT, he will have the staff of the FAA that will work with the NTSB," said LaHood, adding that the board is "the best in the world when it comes to investigations."

"They will be very thorough," he said. "They will take their time. They will talk to everyone. They will look at everything and Sean Duffy and his staff will be part of that team."

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