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 airplane crash at Reagan National Airport, after a midair crash previously this year eliminated 67.

The National Transportation Safety Board offered an update on their examination into the reason for 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, eliminating everybody on board both airplanes.

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

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

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

When authorities, medical or governmental transport helicopters must utilize the area civilian aircrafts are stopped from remaining in the same location.

Homendy said the NTSB is now recommending that the FAA discover a ‘permanent option’ for detours for helicopters when two of the airport’s runways are in use.

Emergency units respond after a traveler aircraft 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 collision

It was likewise revealed on Tuesday that there was cautioning indications in the lead up to the fatal disaster.

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

It was discovered that 15,214 ‘near-miss occasions’ of planes getting signals about helicopters being in close proximity in 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 included: ‘That data from October 2021 through December 2024, (the FAA) could have utilized that info at any time to determine that we have a pattern here and a problem here, and took a look at that path; that didn’t happen, which is why we’re doing something about it today. But regrettably, people lost lives, and liked ones are grieving.’

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

Duffy stated: ‘I believe the question is when this data is available in how did the FAA not understand. How did they not study the data to state “hi, this is a hot spot, we are having near misses out on and if we do not change our methods we are gon na lose lives”.’

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

Duffy would later on included when by a 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 clashed with an Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday night, killing 67 people

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

The accident most likely took place at an elevation just under 300 feet, as the aircraft came down toward the chopper, which was above its 200-foot limitation for that place.

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

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

The helicopter pilots may have also missed out on part of another interaction, when the tower said the jet was turning toward a various runway, Homendy stated last month.

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

Investigators believe the crew was using night vision safety glasses throughout the flight.

The Army has said the Black Hawk crew 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 an eye on both the helicopter and aircraft traffic.

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

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

Surveillance video taken from inside the airport recorded the moment the two clashed in midair

At the time of the crash, a single air traffic controller was all at once keeping an eye on both the helicopter and plane traffic. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is seen here

After 9:30 pm the duties are normally combined and delegated one individual as the airport sees less traffic later on in the night.

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

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

Reagan National has been understaffed for several years, with simply 19 fully licensed 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 situation appeared to have enhanced since 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 service towers is nothing new, with popular causes including high turnover and budget plan cuts.

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In order to fill the gaps, controllers are regularly 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 ‘unusual’.

She stated: ‘This NTSB action is highly unusual. The release of an emergency recommendation requesting the FAA take instant action, before the completion of the NTSB investigation is unusual.’

The 2 airplane had collided in a big 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, on February 17, a Delta guest aircraft crashed-landed upside down in chaotic scenes at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada.

Miraculously, everybody on board survived after being suspended upside-down by their seatbelts for a number of minutes until they tentatively began evacuating.

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

Some 21 individuals were taken to the medical facility for treatment to minor injuries, and Delta has provided each individual a no-strings $30,000 payment in payment.

And the airplane carnage is continuous – on Sunday, yet another jet crash-landed, this time in a parking area of a suburban Pennsylvania retirement community.

Dramatic video footage revealed the Beechcraft A36TC erupt in flames in the car park of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five individuals were rushed to health center.

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

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

American Airlines