Army’s head of aviation, who faced questions over deadly midair collision, has new role

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Army’s head of aviation has changed jobs to become chief of the branch’s enterprise marketing office, a move that comes before the National Transportation Safety Board holds hearings next week on January’s midair collision between an Army helicopter and a commercial jet that killed 67 people.

Brig. Gen. Matthew Braman became chief of the Army Enterprise Marketing Office this month to focus on advertising and boosting recruitment, according to his new bio on an Army website. An Army spokesperson said the plan to move Braman was in place last fall and had nothing to do with the tragedy.

The NTSB will hold three days of hearings, starting next Wednesday, on the crash near Reagan Washington National Airport.

Braman was among those who faced criticism from some in Congress following the collision over the Potomac River, which was the nation’s deadliest plane crash since November 2001.

Braman acknowledged during a hearing in March that military helicopters were still flying over the nation’s capital with a key system broadcasting their locations turned off during most missions because it deemed them sensitive.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz called it “shocking and deeply unacceptable” after earlier complaining that the general wasn’t answering his questions.

Braman repeatedly evaded Cruz’s questions during the hearing about whether he would provide a copy of a memo laying out the policy for when Army helicopters fly with their locators turned off. Braman said he wasn’t sure he could provide the memo because it was part of the investigation, but the head of the NTSB assured him that would be okay.

Former NTSB and FAA crash investigator Jeff Guzzetti, who has followed the crash investigation and watched the hearing, welcomed the news that Braman is no longer leading the Army’s aviation unit.

“Personally I think that’s a good thing. That guy was just not playing ball in my view,” Guzzetti said. “He was too protective and defensive and evasive and secretive. And that’s not what you need in this type of situation.”

Cruz, the Republican chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, said in April that troubling missteps since the crash “underscore the precarious situation in the nation’s airspace.”

Expressing frustration with the Army’s refusal to turn over a memo detailing its flight rules, Cruz said during the hearing that any deaths resulting from another collision near Reagan Airport “will be on the Army’s hands.” He threatened the Army with a subpoena if it did not give the committee a copy of its memo.

The fact that system wasn’t activated in the Black Hawk that collided with the passenger jet is a key concern investigators have highlighted. With the location system turned off, the tower had to rely on radar for updates on the helicopter’s position that only came once every four seconds instead of every second before the crash.

“It begs the question, what doesn’t the Army want Congress or the American people to know about why it was flying partially blind to the other aircraft and to the air traffic controllers near DCA?” Cruz said, using the airport code for Reagan. “This is not acceptable.”