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

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

The National Transportation Safety Board offered an update on their investigation 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, eliminating everybody on board both aircrafts.

As part of an initial report launched on Tuesday, detectives raised issues of more collisions including helicopters at the airport.

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

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

When police, medical or presidential transport helicopters must utilize the space civilian airplanes are stopped from being in the exact same location.

Homendy stated the NTSB is now suggesting that the FAA discover a ‘permanent solution’ for detours for helicopters when 2 of the airport’s runways are in use.

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

It was also exposed on Tuesday that there was cautioning indications 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 uncovered that 15,214 ‘near-miss events’ of aircrafts getting informs about helicopters remaining in close distance between October 2021 and December 2024.

The NTSB also stated 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 details whenever to determine that we have a pattern here and a problem here, and took a look at that path; that didn’t occur, which is why we’re doing something about it today. But regrettably, people lost lives, and liked ones are grieving.’

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

Duffy stated: ‘I think the concern is when this data comes in how did the FAA not understand. How did they not study the data to say “hi, this is a location, we are having near misses out on and if we don’t alter our ways we are gon na lose lives”.’

He added: ‘That wasn’t done, possibly there was a focus on something aside from safety.’

Duffy would later added when questioned by a press reporter about the near misses out on that the information 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 people

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Investigators think that the helicopter involved in the crash might have had inaccurate altitude readings in the minutes before the crash.

The collision most likely happened at an altitude just under 300 feet, as the plane descended towards the chopper, which was above its 200-foot limitation for that place.

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

‘We will continue to collaborate carefully with PSA Airlines as it works together as an investigative celebration member.’

The helicopter pilots may have likewise missed part of another interaction, when the tower said 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 a yearly test and a test on utilizing night vision safety glasses, Homendy said.

Investigators believe the crew was wearing night vision goggles throughout the flight.

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

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

Those jobs are usually handled in between two people from 10am till 9:30 pm, according to an early FAA report seen by The New York Times.

Those jobs are normally handled between 2 individuals from 10am until 9:30 pm, according to the report.

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

At the time of the accident, a single air traffic controller was at the same time monitoring both the helicopter and aircraft traffic. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is seen here

After 9:30 pm the tasks are generally combined and left to one individual as the airport sees less traffic later in the night.

A manager reportedly chose to integrate those responsibilities before the set up cutoff time nevertheless, and enabled one air traffic controller to leave work early.

The FAA report said 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 simply 19 totally 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 circumstance appeared to have actually improved 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 nothing brand-new, with well-known causes including high turnover and spending plan cuts.

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In order to fill the gaps, controllers are often 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 requesting the FAA take immediate action, before the conclusion of the NTSB examination is uncommon.’

The 2 airplane had clashed in a substantial fireball that showed up on dashcams of cars driving on highways that snake around the airport, before plunging into the river.

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

Miraculously, everybody on board made it through after being suspended upside-down by their seat belts for several minutes until they tentatively started evacuating.

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

Some 21 individuals were required to the healthcare facility for treatment to small injuries, and Delta has offered each person a no-strings $30,000 payment in settlement.

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

Dramatic video footage showed the Beechcraft A36TC erupt in flames in the car park of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five individuals were hurried to hospital.

Medics, ambulances, and emergency cars rushed to the scene in Lancaster County as flames engulfed the aircraft and nearby automobiles.

The airplane took off as set up on Sunday afternoon, but rapidly requested to land back on the tarmac since its door had actually opened.

American Airlines