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

Federal private investigators have actually raised concerns of a capacity for another deadly aircraft crash at Reagan National Airport, after a midair collision previously this year killed 67.

The National Transportation Safety Board offered an upgrade on their examination into the reason for the catastrophe which happened 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, detectives raised concerns of more accidents including helicopters at the airport.

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

Her concerns revolve around Transport Secretary Sean Duffy moving to limit helicopter traffic around the area, however that is set to cease at the end of the month.

When authorities, medical or governmental transport helicopters need to use the space civilian planes are stopped from remaining in the exact same location.

Homendy stated the NTSB is now recommending that the FAA discover a ‘irreversible option’ for alternate paths for helicopters when two of the airport’s runways are in usage.

Emergency units respond after a passenger airplane 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 speaks to reporters about the 29 January mid-air crash

It was likewise exposed on Tuesday that there was warning indications in the lead up to the lethal catastrophe.

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

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

The NTSB also said 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 information from October 2021 through December 2024, (the FAA) might have used that information 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 happen, which is why we’re taking action today. But unfortunately, people lost lives, and loved ones are grieving.’

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

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

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

Duffy would later added 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 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 believe that the helicopter associated with the crash may have had incorrect elevation readings in the minutes before the crash.

The crash 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 location.

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

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

The helicopter pilots may have likewise missed out on part of another communication, when the tower stated 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 safety glasses, Homendy said.

Investigators think the team was using night vision safety glasses throughout the flight.

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

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

Those jobs are usually handled between two people from 10am up until 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 captured the moment the 2 clashed 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 plane traffic. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is seen here

After 9:30 pm the duties are typically combined and left to someone as the airport sees less traffic later in the night.

A supervisor supposedly decided to integrate those responsibilities before the arranged cutoff time however, 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 simply 19 totally accredited controllers since September 2023 – well listed below the target of 30 – according to the most recent Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan sent to Congress.

The circumstance appeared to have improved 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 towers is absolutely nothing brand-new, with widely known causes including 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, previous Inspector General of the US Department of Transportation Mary Schiavo considered the findings as ‘uncommon’.

She stated: ‘This NTSB action is highly uncommon. The release of an emergency situation recommendation requesting the FAA take immediate action, before the conclusion of the NTSB investigation is uncommon.’

The two airplane had collided in a substantial fireball that showed up on dashcams of vehicles 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 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 up until they tentatively started evacuating.

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

Some 21 individuals were taken to the hospital for treatment to minor injuries, and Delta has offered each person a no-strings $30,000 payment in compensation.

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

Dramatic footage revealed the Beechcraft A36TC emerge in flames in the parking area of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five people were hurried to medical facility.

Medics, ambulances, and emergency vehicles rushed to the scene in Lancaster County as flames engulfed the airplane and neighboring lorries.

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

American Airlines