A radiation-sensing helicopter owned by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) flew over mass protests in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, but was not part of the federal government’s response to the activity on the ground, an agency spokesperson said Wednesday morning.
“NNSA’s Nuclear Emergency Support Team (NEST) rotary-wing aircraft conducted a routine proficiency flight on Tuesday in the airspace above Washington, D.C.,” the spokesperson for the semiautonomous Department of Energy nuclear-weapon agency said by email. “The flight was an operational check after completion of a routine maintenance inspection and was in no way related to the federal government’s response to the civil unrest in the District.”
The Drive first reported the helicopter’s round-trip flight from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. The aircraft, with the tail number N411DE, left its home base around 2 p.m. and spent about two hours aloft. According to the website FlightAware, the helicopter flew into Washington over the Interstate 395 corridor, which carries automobile traffic into and out of the capital, then up the Potomac River to the northwest of the city before looping down over the Virginia suburbs, then following the region’s I-495 Capital Beltway back toward Andrews.
The NNSA helicopter took to the skies only a day after media reported that the D.C. National Guard used at least two military helicopters for crowd control at the protests in Washington. According to the specialty publication Vertical magazine, Army Maj. Gen. William J. Walker, commanding general of the D.C. National Guard, has ordered an investigation into the low-flying maneuvers.
Since last week, large groups of people have gathered in Washington and other cities to protest the killing of 46 year-old Minnesota resident George Floyd, a black man, who died while in the custody of four Minneapolis police officers. One of the officers, Derek Chauvin, a white man, kneeled on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes. The officers have been fired and Chauvin charged with second-degree murder. The other three officers were charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.
The NNSA helicopter that flew Tuesday is part the agency’s Aerial Measuring System fleet, which includes one other helicopter and three fixed-wing craft. The aircraft are routinely sent to sweep for illicit nuclear materials at major public events such as presidential inaugurations or big-ticket sports games, but may also be sent out on call if local, state, or federal law enforcement suspect a radiological threat.
NNSA last year replaced the three aging fixed-wing aircraft in Aerial Measuring System fleet with three new King Air 350ER airplanes equipped with gamma ray spectrometers and other equipment. In fiscal year 2020, the agency is procuring a pair of new helicopters to upgrade the lower-flying, rotary side of the fleet. The NNSA expects to take delivery of the next helicopters some time after Sept. 30, 2021.
