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

Federal private investigators have actually raised issues of a potential for another deadly airplane crash at Reagan National Airport, after a midair crash earlier this year killed 67.

The National Transportation Safety Board provided an upgrade on their investigation into the cause of the disaster which took place 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 aircrafts.

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

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

Her concerns focus on Transport Secretary Sean Duffy moving 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 use the space civilian airplanes are stopped from being in the exact same location.

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

Emergency units react 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 speaks to press reporters about the 29 January mid-air crash

It was likewise revealed on Tuesday that there was warning signs in the lead up to the lethal disaster.

Those probing 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 said that there were 85 cases where two airplane where laterally divided by less than 1,500 feet, and a vertical separation of less than 200 feet.

Homendy added: ‘That data from October 2021 through December 2024, (the FAA) might have used that information whenever to figure out that we have a pattern here and an issue here, and took a look at that path; that didn’t occur, which is why we’re taking action today. But unfortunately, individuals lost lives, and liked ones are grieving.’

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

Duffy said: ‘I think the concern is when this information is available in how did the FAA not understand. How did they not study the information to state “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 concentrate on something other than safety.’

Duffy would later on included when questioned by a press reporter about the near misses out on 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 think that the helicopter associated with the crash may have had unreliable elevation readings in the minutes before the crash.

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

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

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

The helicopter pilots may have also missed part of another interaction, 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 a yearly test and a test on using night vision safety glasses, Homendy stated.

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

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

At the time of the collision, a single air traffic controller was simultaneously keeping track of both the helicopter and plane traffic.

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

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

Surveillance video footage drawn from inside the airport captured the minute the two collided in midair

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

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

A supervisor supposedly decided to integrate those tasks before the scheduled cutoff time nevertheless, and allowed one air traffic controller to leave work early.

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

Reagan National has actually been understaffed for several years, with simply 19 completely accredited controllers since September 2023 – well below the target of 30 – according to the most current Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan submitted to Congress.

The situation 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 brand-new, with popular causes consisting of high turnover and budget plan cuts.

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In order to fill the gaps, controllers are frequently 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 highly unusual. The release of an emergency suggestion requesting the FAA take immediate action, before the completion of the NTSB examination is unusual.’

The two airplane had collided in a big 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 guest plane 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 till they tentatively began evacuating.

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

Some 21 individuals were required to the healthcare facility for treatment to minor injuries, and Delta has actually used everyone a no-strings $30,000 payment in payment.

And the aircraft 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 revealed the Beechcraft A36TC appear in flames in the parking lot of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five individuals were rushed to healthcare facility.

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

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

American Airlines