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

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

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

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

As part of a preliminary report released on Tuesday, detectives raised concerns of more accidents including helicopters at the airport.

NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said: ‘We remain worried about the substantial capacity for future mid-air collision at DCA.’

Her concerns revolve around Transport Secretary Sean Duffy relocating to limit helicopter traffic around the location, but that is set to cease at the end of the month.

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

Homendy stated the NTSB is now advising that the FAA discover a ‘long-term solution’ for detours for helicopters when 2 of the airport’s runways remain in usage.

Emergency units react 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 talks to press reporters about the 29 January mid-air collision

It was likewise exposed 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 uncovered that 15,214 ‘near-miss occasions’ of aircrafts getting alerts about helicopters being in close distance in between October 2021 and December 2024.

The NTSB also stated that there were 85 cases where two airplane where laterally split 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 info whenever to identify that we have a pattern here and a problem here, and took a look at that path; that didn’t take place, which is why we’re taking action today. But unfortunately, people lost lives, and liked ones are grieving.’

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

Duffy said: ‘I think the question is when this information comes in how did the FAA not understand. How did they not study the information to say « hi, this is a location, we are having near misses out on and if we do not alter our methods we are gon na lose lives ».’

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

Duffy would later included when questioned by a press reporter about the near misses that the information 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, eliminating 67 people

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Investigators think that the helicopter associated with the crash might have had inaccurate elevation readings in the minutes before the crash.

The accident most likely happened at an altitude just under 300 feet, as the aircraft 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, stating: ‘We’re grateful for the National Transportation Safety Board’s immediate safety suggestions to limit helicopter traffic near DCA and for its thorough examination.

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

The helicopter pilots may have likewise missed 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 using night vision goggles, Homendy stated.

Investigators think the team 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 country ´ s capital.

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

Those jobs are normally managed in between 2 people from 10am until 9:30 pm, according to an early FAA report seen by The New york city Times.

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

Surveillance footage taken from inside the airport caught the minute the 2 clashed in midair

At the time of the accident, 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 duties are normally combined and left to someone as the airport sees less traffic later in the night.

A supervisor supposedly decided to combine those responsibilities before the arranged cutoff time nevertheless, and enabled one air traffic controller to leave work early.

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

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

The circumstance appeared to have improved 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 nothing new, with widely known causes consisting of high turnover and cuts.

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In order to fill the gaps, 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 stated: ‘This NTSB action is extremely unusual. The release of an emergency situation recommendation requesting the FAA take instant action, before the conclusion of the NTSB investigation is rare.’

The 2 airplane had collided in a substantial fireball that showed up 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 guest aircraft 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 seatbelts for several minutes until they tentatively started evacuating.

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

Some 21 people were taken to the medical facility for treatment to small injuries, and Delta has actually used 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 area of a rural Pennsylvania retirement community.

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

Medics, ambulances, and emergency situation vehicles hurried to the scene in Lancaster County as flames swallowed up the airplane and neighboring cars.

The plane took off as scheduled on Sunday afternoon, however rapidly asked for to land back on the tarmac due to the fact that its door had actually opened.

American Airlines