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

Federal detectives have raised concerns of a capacity for another lethal plane crash at Reagan National Airport, after a midair collision earlier this year killed 67.

The National Transportation Safety Board gave an update on their into the cause of the catastrophe which occurred 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 airplanes.

As part of a preliminary report launched on Tuesday, detectives raised concerns of more crashes involving helicopters at the airport.

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

Her issues focus on Transport Secretary Sean Duffy relocating to restrict helicopter traffic around the area, however that is set to stop at the end of the month.

When cops, medical or presidential transport helicopters must utilize the space civilian airplanes are stopped from remaining in the same area.

Homendy stated the NTSB is now suggesting that the FAA find a ‘irreversible option’ for alternate routes for helicopters when two of the airport’s runways remain in usage.

Emergency systems react after a guest aircraft collided 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 talks to reporters about the 29 January mid-air crash

It was also exposed on Tuesday that there was alerting check in the lead up to the deadly disaster.

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 remaining in close proximity between October 2021 and December 2024.

The NTSB also said 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) could have utilized that information whenever to determine that we have a pattern here and a problem here, and took a look at that route; that didn’t occur, which is why we’re doing something about it today. But unfortunately, 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 think the question is when this data can be found in how did the FAA not know. How did they not study the information to say « hi, this is a location, we are having near misses and if we do not change our methods we are gon na lose lives ».’

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

Duffy would later on included 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 individuals

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

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

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 limit helicopter traffic near DCA and for its thorough investigation.

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

The helicopter pilots may have likewise missed out on part of another communication, when the tower said the jet was turning toward a various runway, Homendy said 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 goggles, Homendy stated.

Investigators think the crew was wearing night vision safety glasses throughout the flight.

The Army has said the Black Hawk crew was highly experienced, and accustomed to the crowded skies around the nation ´ s capital.

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

Those jobs are generally handled between 2 individuals from 10am up until 9:30 pm, according to an early FAA report seen by The New York Times.

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

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

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

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

A supervisor reportedly chose to combine those tasks before the scheduled cutoff time however, and enabled one air traffic controller to leave work early.

The FAA report stated that staffing setup ‘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 licensed controllers since September 2023 – well below the target of 30 – according to the most recent Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan sent to Congress.

The situation appeared to have enhanced because 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 spending plan cuts.

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In order to fill the spaces, controllers are frequently 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 suggestion requesting the FAA take immediate action, before the conclusion of the NTSB investigation is uncommon.’

The 2 aircraft had actually collided in a substantial fireball that was noticeable on dashcams of cars 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 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 numerous minutes up until they tentatively started evacuating.

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

Some 21 individuals were required to the health center for treatment to minor injuries, and Delta has used each person a no-strings $30,000 payout in compensation.

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 revealed the Beechcraft A36TC erupt 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 plane and nearby vehicles.

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

American Airlines