Inside the Tower; Unmanned; Wonder of the World | 60 Minutes Full Episodes [11:58-14:58]

So the crew on a training mission didn't see flight 5342 until it was too late. So the proper way to fly that is constantly scanning, always moving your head side to side because your field of view is limited with goggles. But why is that kind of training happening in this airspace where it's so busy? The military would say this is where our mission is, this is where we need to train, into some degree I agree with that. But those training environments, they should be nowhere near commercial airliners. Tim Lilly is now advocating for changes to make the sky safer. His son, Sam, shared his love of aviation. And in the cruelest twist of fate, was the first officer on American Airlines Flight 5342. One of the 67 killed in the crash. And I never thought to warn him about the helicopters because I just didn't realize how far the safety margins had slipped since I had flown those routes. This was a system that failed the people on the aircraft, on the helicopter, in the air traffic control tower. Jennifer Hammondy is the chairwoman of the NTSB. After a year-long investigation, the agency suggested 50 safety recommendations to prevent similar accidents. If everybody knows those schools are dangerous, then why didn't anybody step in and say, we have to lighten the load here. The air traffic control tower the entire time was saying, we have a real safety problem here and nobody was listening. It was like somebody was asleep at the switch or didn't want to act. It is a bureaucratic nightmare. Immediately after the accident, the FAA moved some helicopter routes away from DCA and ended the use of visual separation. Earlier this month, it expanded that ban to busy airports across the country. In a statement to 60 minutes, transportation secretary Sean Duffy said, he's helped secure more than $12 billion to quote, aggressively overhaul our air traffic control system. But the problems at DCA continue. Since the crash, 60 minutes has learned at least four times, aircraft and helicopters have gotten too close, triggering safety reports. It is unconscionable that we are having to be here right now. Some of the families of Flight 5342 are now fixtures on Capitol Hill, advocating for aircraft surveillance technology that might have saved their loved ones. Jennifer Hammondee says if the FAA and lawmakers don't move quickly on safety legislation, they are clearing the path for another disaster. I imagine most of them fly in and out of DCA. They do. So what would you say if they were listening? I'd say why do we always have to wait until people die to take action?