A report reveals that on Wednesday evening, the duties of managing helicopter and commercial flight arrivals at Reagan National Airport were combined, leading to a fatal collision between an American Airlines flight and an Army Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River. Typically, air traffic controllers handle helicopters and planes separately from 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., but after this time, the responsibilities are merged due to lower traffic volumes. On the night of the crash, a supervisor assigned both tasks to one controller before 9:30 p.m. and allowed another controller to leave early. The FAA’s preliminary safety report indicated that staffing at the airport was “not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic,” raising concerns about the adequacy of air traffic control at the time of the incident.