It’s being reported right now that the air traffic control tower in Washington, DC last night, at the time of the crash in which 67 people lost their lives, was understaffed given the amount of traffic at that time of day.

This is from a preliminary report by the FAA, via NBC News:

A preliminary FAA report on the collision found that air traffic control tower staffing at Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) was “not normal” for the amount of air traffic and for the time of day, a source with knowledge of the situation told NBC News.

The tower typically has a controller that focuses specifically on helicopter traffic. But at the time of the crash last night, the source said, one controller at DCA was overseeing both airplane and helicopter activity.

FAA guidelines do allow for this position to be combined, permitting one controller to control both airplanes and helicopters.

There are so many questions about what happened last night. The one that weighs on my mind – and I don’t know anything about air traffic control protocols or policies – is why the military helicopter wasn’t notified in far more advance that a plane was coming in for a landing on that given runway. Maybe they were? Maybe there was a malfunction?

It’s also being reported that the flight ceiling a military helicopter could fly at that specific area is 200 feet. The last transmission from the American Airlines commuter jet just before the crash was at 350 feet.

If it is found that the helicopter was too high in altitude at the time of the crash, that would certainly help explain the cause of the crash. But again, why wouldn’t the air traffic control tower warn the military helicopter to descend to the proper altitude? Maybe they did? I guess we’ll find out at some point in the future.