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

Federal private investigators have raised issues of a capacity for another crash at Reagan National Airport, after a midair collision previously this year eliminated 67.

The National Transportation Safety Board provided an upgrade on their investigation into the reason for 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, eliminating everybody on board both aircrafts.

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

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

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

When cops, medical or governmental transportation helicopters need to use the space civilian airplanes are stopped from remaining in the exact same location.

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

Emergency systems 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 with press reporters about the 29 January mid-air crash

It was likewise exposed on Tuesday that there was cautioning indications in the lead up to the lethal catastrophe.

Those probing the crash went through 944,179 operations in between October 2021 and December 2024.

It was uncovered that 15,214 ‘near-miss events’ of planes getting notifies about helicopters being in close proximity in 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 data from October 2021 through December 2024, (the FAA) might have utilized that information any time to determine that we have a pattern here and an issue here, and looked at that route; that didn’t happen, which is why we’re acting today. But regrettably, individuals lost lives, and enjoyed ones are grieving.’

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

Duffy stated: ‘I believe the question is when this data can be found in how did the FAA not know. How did they not study the information to state « hi, this is a location, we are having near misses and if we do not alter our ways we are gon na lose lives ».’

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

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

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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 took place at an elevation just under 300 feet, as the plane came down towards the chopper, which was above its 200-foot limitation for that area.

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

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

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

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

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

At the time of the accident, a single air traffic controller was all at once keeping track of both the helicopter and airplane traffic.

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

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

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

At the time of the accident, a single air traffic controller was simultaneously keeping an eye on both the helicopter and aircraft traffic. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is seen here

After 9:30 pm the tasks are typically combined and delegated a single person as the airport sees less traffic later on in the night.

A manager supposedly decided to combine those tasks before the scheduled cutoff time however, and permitted 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 been understaffed for lots of years, with simply 19 completely accredited 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 situation appeared to have improved considering that then, as a source told 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 widely known causes including high turnover and budget 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, former Inspector General of the US Department of Transportation Mary Schiavo deemed the findings as ‘uncommon’.

She said: ‘This NTSB action is highly unusual. The release of an emergency situation suggestion requesting the FAA take immediate action, before the completion of the NTSB investigation is rare.’

The two aircraft had collided in a big fireball that was visible 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 plane crashed-landed upside down in chaotic scenes at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada.

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

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

Some 21 individuals were required to the medical facility for treatment to minor injuries, and Delta has actually used everyone a no-strings $30,000 payment 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 revealed the Beechcraft A36TC appear in flames in the car park of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five people were hurried to healthcare facility.

Medics, ambulances, and emergency situation vehicles hurried to the scene in Lancaster County as flames engulfed the aircraft and nearby lorries.

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

American Airlines