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The US Army Inspector General is being forced to review a fatal helicopter crash by lawmakers

A House member said Friday that he wanted Congress to order the U.S. Army Inspector General to audit the January 29, 2015 collision between a U.S. Army helicopter and an American Airlines Regional Jet, which killed 67 people.

Don Beyer, a representative of the House of Representatives, said that the Army Inspector General's Office has refused to open an inquiry into the incident in spite a request made by dozens bipartisan senators.

Beyer will try to attach a requirement for an Army audit to the annual Pentagon funding bill. Ted Cruz, the chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, has proposed legislation that would require an Army audit into aviation safety practices as well as "systemic breakdowns" which may have contributed to what was the deadliest U.S. aircraft crash in over two decades.

Beyer and Senator Mark Warner from Virginia raised congestion concerns at a forum held on Friday, near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

Near misses are common - thousands of them

. The airport is home to the busiest single runway in the United States.

Congress ordered in 2024 five new round-trip flights daily from Reagan, despite safety concerns raised by Virginia legislators.

Beyer stated that the airport was designed to handle 14 million passengers per year, but we are currently handling 26 million.

The Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Transportation Department opened a audit in August into the Federal Aviation Administration’s management of airspace, and the allowance of exemptions for the use of an important safety system by certain military aircraft.

The FAA was criticized for not acting on near-miss reports before the January collision.

The FAA banned the Army in May from helicopter flights near the Pentagon following a close call on May 1, which forced two civilian aircraft to abort their landings.

Last month, Senator Maria Cantwell urged the Army Inspector General to "step up and launch" their own audit. (Reporting and editing by David Shepardson)

(source: Reuters)