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

Federal private investigators have actually raised concerns of a capacity for another lethal aircraft crash at Reagan National Airport, after a midair crash earlier this year eliminated 67.

The National Transportation Safety Board gave 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 clashed in midair over the Potomac River, eliminating everyone on board both airplanes.

As part of a preliminary report launched on Tuesday, investigators raised issues of more collisions including helicopters at the airport.

NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said: ‘We remain concerned about the substantial potential for future mid-air crash at DCA.’

Her issues revolve around Transport Secretary Sean Duffy transferring to restrict helicopter traffic around the area, however that is set to cease at the end of the month.

When authorities, medical or presidential transport helicopters must use the area civilian aircrafts are stopped from being in the same location.

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

Emergency systems respond after a guest 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 accident

It was likewise revealed on Tuesday that there was cautioning check in the lead up to the deadly catastrophe.

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

It was discovered that 15,214 ‘near-miss events’ of airplanes getting notifies about helicopters remaining in close proximity between October 2021 and December 2024.

The NTSB likewise stated that there were 85 cases where two aircraft 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) could have used that information at any time to determine that we have a trend here and an issue here, and looked at that path; that didn’t take place, which is why we’re taking action today. But sadly, people lost lives, and loved ones are grieving.’

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

Duffy said: ‘I believe the concern is when this information is available in how did the FAA not understand. How did they not study the data to state « hey, this is a location, we are having near misses out on and if we do not alter our ways we are gon na lose lives ».’

He added: ‘That wasn’t done, perhaps there was a concentrate 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 being in the Potomac River after Flight 5342 hit an Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday night, eliminating 67 individuals

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Investigators believe that the helicopter involved in the crash may have had unreliable elevation readings in the minutes before the crash.

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

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

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

The helicopter pilots may have likewise missed out on part of another interaction, when the tower stated 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 safety glasses, Homendy stated.

Investigators think the team was using night vision safety glasses throughout the flight.

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

At the time of the collision, a single air traffic controller was at the same time keeping an eye on both the helicopter and airplane traffic.

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

Those tasks are normally managed between two people from 10am until 9:30 pm, according to the report.

Surveillance footage drawn from inside the airport caught the moment the 2 collided in midair

At the time of the accident, 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 normally integrated and delegated someone as the airport sees less traffic later on in the night.

A manager reportedly chose to integrate those duties before the scheduled cutoff time nevertheless, and allowed one air traffic controller to leave work early.

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

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

The scenario appeared to have improved given 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 popular 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, six days a week.

After the release of the report, previous 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 recommendation asking for the FAA take immediate action, before the completion of the NTSB investigation is uncommon.’

The 2 aircraft had clashed 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, on February 17, a Delta passenger aircraft 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 until they tentatively started evacuating.

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

Some 21 individuals were taken to the for treatment to small injuries, and Delta has actually used everyone 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 home.

Dramatic footage showed 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 lorries hurried to the scene in Lancaster County as flames swallowed up the airplane and close-by lorries.

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

American Airlines