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

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

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

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

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

Her issues revolve around Transport Secretary Sean Duffy transferring to limit helicopter traffic around the location, however that is set to stop at the end of the month.

When authorities, medical or governmental transportation helicopters should use the area civilian planes are stopped from remaining in the same location.

Homendy said the NTSB is now advising that the FAA discover a ‘permanent service’ for detours for helicopters when 2 of the airport’s runways are in usage.

Emergency units react after a traveler aircraft clashed with 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 accident

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

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

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

The NTSB likewise said that there were 85 cases where two airplane where laterally split 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) might have utilized that information any time to identify that we have a trend here and a problem here, and looked at that path; that didn’t take place, which is why we’re acting today. But regrettably, individuals 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 can be found 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 alter our ways we are gon na lose lives”.’

He added: ‘That wasn’t done, maybe there was a concentrate on something besides security.’

Duffy would later added when questioned by a reporter about the near misses that the data 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, killing 67 individuals

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

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

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 restrict helicopter traffic near DCA and for its comprehensive examination.

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

The helicopter pilots may have also missed part of another interaction, when the tower said 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 going through a yearly test and a test on using night vision safety glasses, Homendy said.

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

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

At the time of the accident, a single air traffic controller was at the same time keeping track of both the helicopter and airplane traffic.

Those tasks are generally dealt with between 2 individuals from 10am till 9:30 pm, according to an early FAA report seen by The New york city Times.

Those jobs are generally managed between 2 people from 10am up until 9:30 pm, according to the report.

Surveillance video taken from inside the airport caught the minute the two 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 aircraft traffic. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is seen here

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

A supervisor supposedly decided to integrate those tasks before the scheduled cutoff time nevertheless, and permitted 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 actually been understaffed for several years, with simply 19 fully certified controllers as of September 2023 – well listed below the target of 30 – according to the most recent Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan sent to Congress.

The scenario appeared to have because 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 absolutely nothing new, with popular causes including high turnover and spending plan 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, former 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 situation recommendation requesting the FAA take immediate action, before the conclusion of the NTSB investigation is unusual.’

The 2 aircraft had actually clashed in a huge 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 aircraft 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 seatbelts for a number of minutes till they tentatively began leaving.

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

Some 21 individuals were required to the hospital for treatment to minor injuries, and Delta has actually provided everyone 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 rural Pennsylvania retirement home.

Dramatic video revealed the Beechcraft A36TC emerge in flames in the car park of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five individuals were hurried to healthcare facility.

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

The plane took off as set up on Sunday afternoon, however rapidly asked for to land back on the tarmac since its door had actually opened.

American Airlines