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

Federal private investigators have actually raised issues of a potential for another fatal aircraft crash at Reagan National Airport, after a midair accident previously this year killed 67.

The National Transportation Safety Board offered an upgrade on their investigation into the reason for the disaster which happened on January 29 in Washington.

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

As part of an initial report launched on Tuesday, investigators raised issues of more crashes involving helicopters at the airport.

NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy stated: ‘We stay worried about the significant capacity for future mid-air accident at DCA.’

Her concerns revolve around Transport Secretary Sean Duffy transferring to restrict helicopter traffic around the location, however that is set to cease at the end of the month.

When authorities, medical or presidential transport helicopters must utilize the area civilian planes are stopped from remaining in the same location.

Homendy said the NTSB is now recommending that the FAA discover a ‘irreversible option’ for detours for helicopters when two of the airport’s runways are in use.

Emergency systems respond after a traveler 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 speaks to press reporters about the 29 January mid-air collision

It was also revealed on Tuesday that there was cautioning check in the lead up to the fatal catastrophe.

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

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

The NTSB also said that there were 85 cases where 2 airplane 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) could have utilized that info at any time to figure out that we have a pattern here and a problem here, and looked at that route; that didn’t happen, which is why we’re acting today. But regrettably, people lost lives, and enjoyed ones are grieving.’

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy slammed these findings at a later press conference on Tuesday.

Duffy said: ‘I believe the question is when this information can be found in how did the FAA not know. How did they not study the data to say “hey, this is a hot spot, we are having near misses and if we don’t alter our methods we are gon na lose lives”.’

He added: ‘That wasn’t done, possibly there was a concentrate on something besides safety.’

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

Pictured: Parts of the wreckage seen being in the Potomac River after Flight 5342 collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday night, killing 67 people

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Investigators believe that the helicopter associated with the crash might have had unreliable altitude readings in the minutes before the crash.

The collision likely occurred at an altitude simply under 300 feet, as the aircraft descended toward the chopper, which was above its 200-foot limit for that place.

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

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

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

The helicopter was on a ‘check’ flight that night where the pilot was going through an annual test and a test on using night vision goggles, Homendy stated.

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

The Army has stated the Black Hawk crew was extremely experienced, and accustomed to the crowded skies around the country ´ s capital.

At the time of the collision, a single air traffic controller was simultaneously keeping an eye on both the helicopter and aircraft traffic.

Those jobs are generally handled between two individuals from 10am until 9:30 pm, according to an early FAA report seen by The New york city Times.

Those tasks are generally dealt with between 2 individuals from 10am till 9:30 pm, according to the report.

Surveillance footage taken from inside the airport caught the minute the two clashed in midair

At the time of the collision, a single air traffic controller was all at once monitoring both the helicopter and plane traffic. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is seen here

After 9:30 pm the tasks are normally integrated and delegated a single person as the airport sees less traffic later in the night.

A manager reportedly chose to integrate those tasks before the arranged cutoff time however, and allowed one air traffic controller to leave work early.

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

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

The scenario appeared to have actually enhanced ever since, 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 service towers is absolutely nothing new, with widely known causes consisting of high turnover and budget 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, previous Inspector General of the US Department of Transportation Mary Schiavo considered the findings as ‘uncommon’.

She stated: ‘This NTSB action is extremely unusual. The release of an emergency situation suggestion requesting the FAA take instant action, before the completion of the NTSB examination is unusual.’

The two aircraft had clashed in a huge fireball that showed up on dashcams of automobiles driving on highways that snake around the airport, before plunging into the river.

Less than a month later, on February 17, a Delta passenger airplane 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 seat belts for several minutes till they tentatively began leaving.

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

Some 21 people were taken to the healthcare facility for treatment to small injuries, and Delta has actually offered everyone a no-strings $30,000 payment in settlement.

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

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

Medics, ambulances, and emergency cars hurried to the scene in Lancaster County as flames engulfed the airplane and neighboring cars.

The aircraft took off as scheduled on Sunday afternoon, however rapidly asked for to land back on the tarmac since its door had opened.

American Airlines