WASHINGTON, July 29 (Reuters) - U.S. Transportation

Secretary Sean Duffy said Tuesday the Federal Aviation

Administration failed to act despite dozens of near miss

incidents before a fatal Jan. 29 crash between an American

Airlines ( AAL ) regional jet and Army helicopter near Reagan Washington

National Airport that killed 67 people.

"The mistake was that this was not unforeseen. We had 84

near misses in the three years before in the DC air space and no

one did anything," Duffy told reporters. "Someone was asleep at

the wheel. Someone should have seen that."

The National Transportation Safety Board disclosed in March that

since 2021 there were 15,200 air separation incidents near

Reagan between commercial airplanes and helicopters, including

85 close-call events.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama )