67 Died; Here's Why; How to Correct

WASHINGTON - July 30, 2025 - PRLog -- The Washington Post just reported (https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/07/30/ntsb-dc-plane-crash-reagan-national-airport/?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=wp_news_alert_revere&location=alert) that "Army Helicopter Crew on Night of Collision with DCA Plane Had Trouble Hearing Air Traffic Control, Had Wrong Altitude Information."  As a result, 67 people died, in an accident which probably could have been prevented, says Professor John Banzhaf, an MIT graduate with two U.S. patents who studies and writes about safety issues.

He says that existing AI programs, monitoring air traffic and receiving radar feeds from Reagan and nearby Bolling AFB, could have warned air traffic controllers in time for them to issue appropriate comments to prevent this tragedy.

Computers with AI programs can understand airplane radio traffic better than humans ,amplify certain speech frequencies (like modern hearing aides), and compare garbled speech with speech patterns of the same speaker stored in its memory, explains Banzhaf.

It can also determine altitude more accurately by combining radar feeds from different radars at Reagan and Bolling, plus video feeds from many cameras mounted near Reagan, and do it instantaneously and in real time, he points out.

So instead of only suggesting proposed remedy for this specific crash, the NTSB, FAA, and DoD should at the very least be considering the use of AI programs to slash the growing number of near misses (many of which are kept secret), argues the Professor.  Here's what he wrote very recently: . . .

After all, the inventor-professor notes, computers running existing AI programs can already do many things no air traffic controller can possibly do, and do it in milliseconds, including:
■ monitoring the dozens of different relevant radio frequencies, including commercial, helicopter, small craft civilian, military, Homeland Security, and from other nearby airports, etc.
■ in the case at Reagan Airport for example, also simultaneously monitor all radio and radar at DCA as well as nearby from Bolling AFB, plus any from the Pentagon, White House, etc.
■ calculate various flight paths, and foresee possible crashes, in fractions of a second
■ never become tired, flustered, distracted, or panicked
and then alert an air traffic controller - but not pilots directly - if there seems to be a problem such as a potential collision.

Professor Banzhaf's detailed analysis of how such a supplemental warning system could work, and how it can be tested quickly and safely, has been featured in many forms on the Internet, including, for example:

Let's Try Using New AI to Reduce Airport Runway Incursions; (https://www.valuewalk.com/lets-try-using-new-ai-to-reduce...)
AI Programs Can Easily Monitor Radio Traffic, Detect Objects, and Analyze (https://www.valuewalk.com/lets-try-using-new-ai-to-reduce-airport-runway-incursions/)

There's Been Still Another Potentially Fatal Airplane Near Miss; (http://prsync.com/george-washington-university/theres-bee...) 2 Injured (http://prsync.com/george-washington-university/theres-been-still-another-potentially-fatal-airplane-near-miss--injured----especially-with-some-fatal-isnt-it-time-to-stop-the-c-4294392/)
Especially With Some Fatal, Isn't It Time to Stop the Coverup and Use AI (http://prsync.com/george-washington-university/theres-been-still-another-potentially-fatal-airplane-near-miss--injured----especially-with-some-fatal-isnt-it-time-to-stop-the-c-4294392/)

http://banzhaf.net/   jbanzhaf3ATgmail.com  @profbanzhaf