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

Federal private investigators have raised issues of a potential for another fatal aircraft crash at Reagan National Airport, after a midair collision previously this year killed 67.

The National Transportation Safety Board gave an update on their investigation into the reason for the disaster which happened 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 aircrafts.

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

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

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

When authorities, medical or governmental transportation helicopters need to utilize the space civilian airplanes are stopped from remaining in the same area.

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

Emergency systems 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 also exposed on Tuesday that there was cautioning indications in the lead up to the fatal disaster.

Those penetrating 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 information from October 2021 through December 2024, (the FAA) could have utilized that details any time to determine that we have a pattern here and a problem here, and looked at that route; that didn’t happen, which is why we’re taking action today. But unfortunately, individuals lost lives, and loved ones are grieving.’

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

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

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

Duffy would later on added when questioned by a 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 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 might have had inaccurate altitude readings in the minutes before the crash.

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

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 near DCA and for its extensive investigation.

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

The helicopter pilots might have likewise 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 going through an annual test and a test on utilizing night vision goggles, Homendy stated.

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

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

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

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

Those tasks are normally managed between two individuals from 10am until 9:30 pm, according to the report.

Surveillance footage drawn from inside the airport captured the moment the two clashed in midair

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

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

A supervisor supposedly decided to combine those duties before the arranged 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 numerous years, with just 19 totally licensed controllers since September 2023 – well listed 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 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 widely known causes consisting of high turnover and budget cuts.

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In order to fill the gaps, controllers are frequently 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 deemed the findings as ‘unusual’.

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

The 2 airplane had collided in a big fireball that showed up 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 passenger plane crashed-landed upside down in disorderly scenes at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada.

Miraculously, everybody on board endured after being suspended upside-down by their seatbelts for several minutes until they tentatively began evacuating.

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

Some 21 individuals were required to the healthcare facility for treatment to minor injuries, and Delta has provided each person a no-strings $30,000 payment in compensation.

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

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

Medics, ambulances, and emergency situation cars rushed to the scene in Lancaster County as flames swallowed up the aircraft and nearby lorries.

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

American Airlines