Crash Warning as Report into DC Disaster at Reagan Airport Is Released

Federal detectives have actually raised concerns of a capacity for another deadly plane crash at Reagan National Airport, after a midair crash previously this year eliminated 67.

The National Transportation Safety Board offered an update on their examination into the cause of the disaster which occurred on January 29 in Washington.

An American Airlines jetliner and a Black Hawk military helicopter collided in midair over the Potomac River, killing everyone on board both airplanes.

As part of a preliminary report launched on Tuesday, private investigators raised concerns of more crashes including helicopters at the airport.

NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy stated: ‘We remain concerned about the significant capacity for future mid-air collision at DCA.’

Her issues focus on Transport Secretary Sean Duffy transferring to limit helicopter traffic around the location, but that is set to cease at the end of the month.

When authorities, medical or presidential transportation helicopters must the area civilian airplanes are stopped from being in the exact same area.

Homendy said the NTSB is now suggesting that the FAA discover a ‘permanent solution’ for detours for helicopters when two of the airport’s runways remain in usage.

Emergency systems react after a guest aircraft clashed with a helicopter in the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington Airport on January 30, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia

Chairman of the National Transportation Safety Bureau (NTSB) Jennifer Homendy talks to reporters about the 29 January mid-air collision

It was likewise revealed on Tuesday that there was warning indications in the lead up to the deadly catastrophe.

Those penetrating the crash went through 944,179 operations between October 2021 and December 2024.

It was discovered that 15,214 ‘near-miss occasions’ of planes getting informs about helicopters being in close proximity between October 2021 and December 2024.

The NTSB likewise stated that there were 85 cases where 2 aircraft where laterally divided by less than 1,500 feet, and a vertical separation of less than 200 feet.

Homendy added: ‘That information from October 2021 through December 2024, (the FAA) might have utilized that info whenever to identify that we have a trend here and an issue here, and looked at that route; that didn’t take place, which is why we’re taking action today. But regrettably, individuals lost lives, and enjoyed ones are grieving.’

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy knocked these findings at a later interview on Tuesday.

Duffy said: ‘I believe the question is when this data can be found in how did the FAA not know. How did they not study the data to state «hi, this is a location, we are having near misses and if we do not change our ways we are gon na lose lives».’

He added: ‘That wasn’t done, perhaps there was a focus on something other than safety.’

Duffy would later on added when questioned by a press reporter about the near misses that the data had ‘p *** ed him off’.

Pictured: Parts of the wreckage seen sitting in the Potomac River after Flight 5342 hit an Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday night, killing 67 individuals

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Investigators believe that the helicopter included in the crash might have had unreliable elevation readings in the minutes before the crash.

The collision most likely happened at an altitude simply under 300 feet, as the airplane came down towards the chopper, which was above its 200-foot limit for that place.

On Tuesday American Airlines welcomed the report by the NTSB, saying: ‘We’re grateful for the National Transportation Safety Board’s urgent security recommendations to limit helicopter traffic near DCA and for its thorough examination.

‘We will continue to collaborate carefully with PSA Airlines as it cooperates as an investigative party member.’

The helicopter pilots might have also missed out on part of another communication, when the tower said the jet was turning toward a different runway, Homendy stated last month.

The helicopter was on a ‘check’ flight that night where the pilot was undergoing a yearly test and a test on utilizing night vision safety glasses, Homendy stated.

Investigators think the crew was using night vision goggles throughout the flight.

The Army has said the Black Hawk team was highly experienced, and accustomed to the crowded skies around the nation ´ s capital.

At the time of the accident, a single air traffic controller was simultaneously monitoring both the helicopter and plane traffic.

Those tasks are normally dealt with in between 2 individuals from 10am up until 9:30 pm, according to an early FAA report seen by The New York Times.

Those jobs are typically handled between 2 people from 10am till 9:30 pm, according to the report.

Surveillance video footage drawn from inside the airport recorded the moment the two clashed in midair

At the time of the accident, a single air traffic controller was all at once keeping an eye on both the helicopter and aircraft traffic. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is seen here

After 9:30 pm the responsibilities are typically combined and left to one person as the airport sees less traffic later on in the night.

A manager apparently chose to integrate those tasks before the set up cutoff time however, and permitted one air traffic controller to leave work early.

The FAA report stated that staffing setup ‘was not regular for the time of day and volume of traffic’.

Reagan National has actually been understaffed for several years, with just 19 fully accredited controllers since September 2023 – well listed below the target of 30 – according to the most recent Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan sent to Congress.

The scenario appeared to have enhanced given that then, as a source informed CNN the Reagan National control tower was 85 percent staffed with 24 of 28 positions filled.

Chronic understaffing at air traffic control towers is absolutely nothing new, with popular causes including high turnover and spending plan cuts.

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In order to fill the gaps, controllers are regularly asked to work 10-hour days, 6 days a week.

After the release of the report, former Inspector General of the US Department of Transportation Mary Schiavo deemed the findings as ‘uncommon’.

She stated: ‘This NTSB action is extremely uncommon. The release of an emergency recommendation asking for the FAA take immediate action, before the conclusion of the NTSB investigation is uncommon.’

The two aircraft had actually clashed in a huge fireball that was visible on dashcams of cars and trucks driving on highways that snake around the airport, before plunging into the river.

Less than a month later on, on February 17, a Delta passenger aircraft crashed-landed upside down in disorderly scenes at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada.

Miraculously, everyone on board endured after being suspended upside-down by their seatbelts for several minutes up until they tentatively started leaving.

The aircraft had been heading to Toronto from Minneapolis – Saint Paul International Airport with 76 passengers and 4 team members on board.

Some 21 people were taken to the hospital for treatment to minor injuries, and Delta has provided everyone a no-strings $30,000 payment in compensation.

And the airplane carnage is continuous – on Sunday, yet another jet crash-landed, this time in a parking area of a rural Pennsylvania retirement home.

Dramatic video footage showed the Beechcraft A36TC appear in flames in the parking area of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five individuals were hurried to health center.

Medics, ambulances, and emergency situation cars rushed to the scene in Lancaster County as flames swallowed up the aircraft and nearby cars.

The aircraft took off as scheduled on Sunday afternoon, however quickly requested to land back on the tarmac due to the fact that its door had opened.

American Airlines