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

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

The National Transportation Safety Board provided an upgrade on their examination into the cause of the disaster which happened on January 29 in Washington.

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

As part of an initial report released on Tuesday, investigators raised concerns of more accidents involving helicopters at the airport.

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

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

When cops, medical or governmental transport helicopters need to utilize the area civilian airplanes are stopped from being in the same location.

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

Emergency systems respond after a passenger airplane hit 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 press reporters about the 29 January mid-air accident

It was likewise exposed on Tuesday that there was warning check in the lead up to the lethal 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 distance in between October 2021 and December 2024.

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

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

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

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

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

Duffy would later included 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 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 may have had incorrect altitude readings in the minutes before the crash.

The collision likely occurred at an elevation just under 300 feet, as the airplane came down toward the chopper, which was above its 200-foot limit for that place.

On Tuesday American Airlines invited the report by the NTSB, saying: ‘We’re grateful for the National Transportation Safety Board’s urgent safety suggestions to limit helicopter traffic near DCA and for its extensive investigation.

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

The helicopter pilots may have likewise missed out on part of another interaction, when the tower said the jet was turning towards a various runway, Homendy said last month.

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

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

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

At the time of the crash, a single air traffic controller was concurrently monitoring both the helicopter and aircraft traffic.

Those jobs are normally managed in between two individuals from 10am until 9:30 pm, according to an early FAA report seen by The New York Times.

Those tasks are typically dealt with between two individuals from 10am up until 9:30 pm, according to the report.

Surveillance video footage taken from inside the airport caught the moment the two collided in midair

At the time of the crash, a single air traffic controller was at the same time 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 delegated one person as the airport sees less traffic later on in the night.

A manager supposedly decided to combine those duties before the arranged cutoff time nevertheless, and enabled 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 been understaffed for many years, with simply 19 fully accredited controllers as of September 2023 – well below the target of 30 – according to the most current Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan submitted to Congress.

The circumstance appeared to have improved since 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 nothing new, with popular causes consisting of high turnover and budget cuts.

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In order to fill the spaces, controllers are often asked to work 10-hour days, six days a week.

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

She said: ‘This NTSB action is highly unusual. The release of an emergency suggestion asking for the FAA take instant action, before the conclusion of the NTSB investigation is uncommon.’

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

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

Miraculously, everyone on board made it through after being suspended upside-down by their seatbelts for numerous minutes up until they tentatively began evacuating.

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

Some 21 people were required to the healthcare facility for treatment to small injuries, and Delta has actually offered each individual a no-strings $30,000 payout in compensation.

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

Dramatic footage revealed the Beechcraft A36TC emerge in flames in the parking area of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five people were rushed to hospital.

Medics, ambulances, and emergency cars rushed to the scene in Lancaster County as flames swallowed up the aircraft and close-by vehicles.

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

American Airlines