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

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

The National Transportation Safety Board provided an upgrade on their investigation into the cause of the catastrophe which occurred on January 29 in Washington.

An American Airlines jetliner and a Black Hawk military helicopter collided in midair over the Potomac River, eliminating everyone on board both aircrafts.

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

NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy stated: ‘We remain worried about the considerable potential for future mid-air crash at DCA.’

Her concerns focus on Transport Secretary Sean Duffy moving 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 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 find a ‘permanent service’ for alternate routes for helicopters when two of the airport’s runways are in usage.

Emergency systems respond after a traveler 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 talks to reporters about the 29 January mid-air crash

It was also revealed on Tuesday that there was cautioning indications 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 events’ of airplanes getting signals about helicopters remaining in close distance between October 2021 and December 2024.

The NTSB likewise 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 added: ‘That information from October 2021 through December 2024, (the FAA) might have used that details whenever to figure out that we have a trend here and a problem here, and looked at that route; that didn’t happen, which is why we’re acting today. But sadly, people lost lives, and liked ones are grieving.’

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

Duffy stated: ‘I believe the question is when this data comes in how did the FAA not know. How did they not study the information to say “hey, 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, maybe there was a concentrate on something besides security.’

Duffy would later 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 hit 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 collision most likely happened at an altitude just under 300 feet, as the plane descended toward the chopper, which was above its 200-foot limitation for that location.

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

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

The helicopter pilots might have also missed part of another interaction, when the tower said the jet was turning towards a different runway, Homendy said last month.

The helicopter was on a ‘check’ flight that night where the pilot was undergoing an annual test and a test on using night vision safety glasses, Homendy stated.

Investigators think the crew was using 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 typically dealt with between 2 individuals from 10am till 9:30 pm, according to an early FAA report seen by The New York Times.

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

Surveillance video drawn from inside the airport caught the minute the 2 collided in midair

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

After 9:30 pm the duties are normally integrated and left to a single person as the airport sees less traffic later in the night.

A manager supposedly decided to integrate those responsibilities before the scheduled cutoff time nevertheless, 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 several years, with just 19 completely accredited controllers as of September 2023 – well below the target of 30 – according to the most recent Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan submitted to Congress.

The circumstance 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 well-known causes consisting of high turnover and budget cuts.

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In order to fill the spaces, controllers are regularly 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 extremely uncommon. The release of an emergency situation suggestion requesting the FAA take immediate action, before the conclusion of the NTSB examination is unusual.’

The 2 aircraft had actually clashed in a substantial fireball that was noticeable 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 traveler airplane crashed-landed upside down in at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada.

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

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

Some 21 individuals were taken to the health center for treatment to minor injuries, and Delta has actually offered each individual a no-strings $30,000 payout in settlement.

And the airplane carnage is ongoing – on Sunday, yet another jet crash-landed, this time in a car park of a rural Pennsylvania retirement community.

Dramatic footage showed the Beechcraft A36TC emerge in flames in the parking lot of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five people were rushed to health center.

Medics, ambulances, and emergency lorries hurried to the scene in Lancaster County as flames swallowed up the airplane and nearby 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 actually opened.

American Airlines