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Utah officials address air traffic concerns following D.C. tragedy

By Ryan Aston - | Jan 30, 2025

Alex Brandon, Associated Press

A boat works the scene in the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Arlington, Va.

The nation is in mourning following the mid-air collision of an American Airlines jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter as the former approached Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, D.C., Wednesday night.

Officials said Thursday that all 67 people aboard the two aircraft likely died in the crash, making it the United States’ deadliest air carrier crash since 2001.

According to D.C. Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly, 28 bodies had been found as of Thursday morning amid ongoing recovery efforts. The passenger jet’s fuselage was found in three parts in the icy waters of the Potomac River.

Among those on the jet were several athletes, coaches and family members making their return from the National Development Camp held in conjunction with the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas, U.S. Figure Skating has confirmed.

Ogden’s Amanda Kovar is a longtime figure skating coach and the mother of Kai and Milada Kovar, both of whom competed in Wichita. She, her husband, Karel, and their children lost friends and fellow competitors in the crash.

“We, as a skating community, we’re actually quite small and we’re a very, very, tight-knit community,” Kovar told the Standard-Examiner. “Everybody’s been kind of reaching out to each other.”

Among those on the plane were coaches and former pairs world champions Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova, who were friendly with the Kovars.

“(Naumov) and I were warming our sons up in the warmup area before practice and before the events,” Kovar said. “We saw each other at all the big competitions because I’ve been a national coach since 2006. … Also, he coached his son and my husband and I coach our son. So, we had a lot in common.”

Kovar said that her husband also trained with Naumov and Shishkova during his own skating career. She added that U.S. Figure Skating had made grief counselors available to those affected by the tragedy.

Concerns about the air traffic control tower staffing as well as commercial/civilian-military airspace challenges have been raised in the aftermath of the incident.

That issue is front of mind in the Weber-Davis area, where Hill Air Force Base and Ogden-Hinckley Airport are situated within mere miles of one another. An Air Force spokesperson provided, via email, the following statement to the Standard-Examiner about how airspace is managed locally:

“The Department of the Air Force and the Federal Aviation Administration work closely together to ensure aviation safety. Aircraft adhere to FAA and air traffic control procedures, and each installation coordinates with the airports that operate the airspace in their respective areas.”

Meanwhile, Ogden-Hinckley Airport Director Brian Condie said there are “designated airways” to prevent these kinds of incidents.

“The military has their airspace and none of the civilian aircraft are allowed to go in there,” Condie told the Standard-Examiner.

Military aircraft are also given airspace priority when traffic levels see an uptick.

“When Hill Air Force Base has excessive flights, or multiple flights, they actually take up more of the Ogden airspace. That pushes us out over to the west, over the lake, which there’s not a lot of population out there. So, when there’s a lot of jet aircraft flying, they take more of the airspace, so there’s less potential for conflict of civilian and military aircraft,” Condie said.

Condie added that safety has been a key area of focus since he assumed the directorial role in Ogden.

“One of the items that I was tasked with is safety, security and service. That’s the very first priority is to make sure the airport and the operators operate as safely as possible. And that’s what we have focused on,” Condie said.

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