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

Federal detectives have raised concerns of a capacity for another fatal plane crash at Reagan National Airport, after a midair crash previously this year eliminated 67.

The National Transportation Safety Board offered an upgrade on their examination into the reason for the disaster which occurred on January 29 in Washington.

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

As part of an initial report released on Tuesday, private investigators raised concerns of more crashes involving helicopters at the airport.

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

Her concerns revolve around Transport Secretary Sean Duffy relocating to restrict helicopter traffic around the location, however that is set to stop at the end of the month.

When authorities, medical or presidential transportation helicopters must utilize the area civilian airplanes are stopped from being in the exact same location.

Homendy stated the NTSB is now suggesting that the FAA discover a ‘irreversible service’ for detours for helicopters when 2 of the airport’s runways remain in use.

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 reporters about the 29 January mid-air accident

It was also exposed on Tuesday that there was alerting signs in the lead up to the lethal catastrophe.

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

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

The NTSB likewise stated that there were 85 cases where 2 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) might have used that info any time to figure out that we have a trend here and an issue here, and took a look at that path; that didn’t occur, which is why we’re acting today. But regrettably, individuals lost lives, and loved ones are grieving.’

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

Duffy said: ‘I believe the concern is when this data is available in how did the FAA not understand. How did they not study the data to state “hello, this is a location, we are having near misses and if we don’t change our methods we are gon na lose lives”.’

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

Duffy would later on added when questioned by a reporter about the near misses that the data had ‘p *** ed him off’.

Pictured: Parts of the wreckage seen being in the Potomac River after Flight 5342 clashed with an Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday night, killing 67 individuals

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

The accident most likely took place at an altitude simply under 300 feet, as the airplane descended 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 immediate safety suggestions to restrict helicopter traffic near DCA and for its thorough investigation.

‘We will to collaborate closely 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 towards a various runway, Homendy said last month.

The helicopter was on a ‘check’ flight that night where the pilot was undergoing a yearly test and a test on utilizing night vision safety glasses, Homendy said.

Investigators believe the team was using night vision goggles throughout the flight.

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

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

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

Those tasks are usually dealt with in between 2 people from 10am up until 9:30 pm, according to the report.

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

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

After 9:30 pm the responsibilities are usually integrated and left to one individual as the airport sees less traffic later in the night.

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

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

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

The circumstance appeared to have actually enhanced considering that 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 widely known 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, six days a week.

After the release of the report, former Inspector General of the US Department of Transportation Mary Schiavo deemed the findings as ‘unusual’.

She said: ‘This NTSB action is highly uncommon. The release of an emergency recommendation requesting the FAA take instant action, before the conclusion of the NTSB examination is unusual.’

The two airplane had collided in a substantial fireball that was noticeable on dashcams of automobiles driving on highways that snake around the airport, before plunging into the river.

Less than a month later, on February 17, a Delta traveler plane crashed-landed upside down in disorderly scenes at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada.

Miraculously, everyone on board endured after being suspended upside-down by their seat belts for a number of minutes up until they tentatively started evacuating.

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

Some 21 individuals were required to the hospital for treatment to small injuries, and Delta has actually provided everyone a no-strings $30,000 payment in payment.

And the plane carnage is ongoing – on Sunday, yet another jet crash-landed, this time in a parking lot of a rural Pennsylvania retirement home.

Dramatic video showed the Beechcraft A36TC emerge in flames in the parking lot of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five people were rushed to medical facility.

Medics, ambulances, and emergency situation lorries rushed to the scene in Lancaster County as flames swallowed up the aircraft and close-by vehicles.

The plane took off as arranged on Sunday afternoon, however rapidly requested to land back on the tarmac because its door had opened.

American Airlines