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

Federal detectives have actually raised issues of a capacity for another deadly plane crash at Reagan National Airport, after a midair crash previously this year killed 67.

The National Transportation Safety Board offered an upgrade on their investigation into the cause of the disaster which took place on January 29 in Washington.

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

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

NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said: ‘We stay concerned about the considerable capacity for future mid-air crash at DCA.’

Her issues focus on Transport Secretary Sean Duffy transferring to limit helicopter around the area, however that is set to cease at the end of the month.

When cops, medical or presidential transportation helicopters need to use the space civilian airplanes are stopped from being in the very same area.

Homendy stated the NTSB is now advising that the FAA find a ‘irreversible solution’ for detours for helicopters when two of the airport’s runways remain in usage.

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 to press reporters about the 29 January mid-air collision

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

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

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

The NTSB likewise stated that there were 85 cases where two aircraft where laterally split by less than 1,500 feet, and a vertical separation of less than 200 feet.

Homendy included: ‘That information from October 2021 through December 2024, (the FAA) might have used that details any time to figure out that we have a trend here and a problem here, and looked at that route; that didn’t occur, which is why we’re taking action today. But regrettably, individuals lost lives, and loved ones are grieving.’

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

Duffy stated: ‘I think the concern is when this data can be found in how did the FAA not know. How did they not study the data to state „hello, this is a hot spot, we are having near misses out on and if we don’t change our ways we are gon na lose lives”.’

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

Duffy would later on included when questioned by a press reporter about the near misses out on that the information had ‘p *** ed him off’.

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

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Investigators think that the helicopter involved in the crash might have had inaccurate elevation readings in the minutes before the crash.

The crash likely took place at an altitude simply under 300 feet, as the aircraft 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 immediate safety suggestions to limit helicopter traffic near DCA and for its extensive examination.

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

The helicopter pilots might have also missed part of another interaction, when the tower stated the jet was turning towards a different 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 utilizing night vision safety glasses, Homendy stated.

Investigators think the crew was using night vision goggles throughout the flight.

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

At the time of the crash, a single air traffic controller was concurrently monitoring both the helicopter and aircraft traffic.

Those tasks are typically handled between 2 individuals from 10am until 9:30 pm, according to an early FAA report seen by The New York Times.

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

Surveillance video taken from inside the airport captured the minute the 2 clashed in midair

At the time of the crash, a single air traffic controller was all at once monitoring both the helicopter and aircraft traffic. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is seen here

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

A supervisor supposedly decided to combine those responsibilities before the arranged cutoff time however, and enabled one air traffic controller to leave work early.

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

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

The situation appeared to have actually improved ever since, 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 service towers is absolutely nothing brand-new, with widely known causes including high turnover and budget cuts.

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In order to fill the spaces, controllers are regularly 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 considered the findings as ‘uncommon’.

She stated: ‘This NTSB action is extremely uncommon. The release of an emergency situation recommendation asking for the FAA take instant action, before the completion of the NTSB examination is unusual.’

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

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

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

Some 21 people were taken to the health center for treatment to minor injuries, and Delta has used everyone a no-strings $30,000 payout in compensation.

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

Dramatic video footage revealed the Beechcraft A36TC appear in flames in the parking lot of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five individuals were rushed to medical facility.

Medics, ambulances, and emergency situation cars hurried to the scene in Lancaster County as flames engulfed the plane and neighboring vehicles.

The aircraft took off as set up on Sunday afternoon, but quickly asked for to land back on the tarmac because its door had opened.

American Airlines