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

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

The National Transportation Safety Board provided an update on their examination 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, eliminating everyone on board both airplanes.

As part of an initial report launched on Tuesday, private investigators raised concerns of more collisions including helicopters at the airport.

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

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

When cops, medical or presidential transport helicopters need to use the space civilian airplanes are stopped from remaining in the exact same area.

Homendy said the NTSB is now suggesting that the FAA find a ‘irreversible option’ for alternate routes for helicopters when two of the airport’s runways remain in use.

Emergency units react after a traveler 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 with reporters about the 29 January mid-air crash

It was likewise exposed on Tuesday that there was cautioning indications in the lead up to the deadly 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 planes getting notifies about helicopters remaining in close proximity between October 2021 and December 2024.

The NTSB also said that there were 85 cases where two airplane 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) might have used that info any time to figure out 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 sadly, individuals lost lives, and liked ones are grieving.’

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

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

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

Duffy would later on included 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 think that the helicopter associated with the crash might have had inaccurate altitude readings in the minutes before the crash.

The collision likely occurred at an elevation simply under 300 feet, as the airplane descended toward the chopper, which was above its 200-foot limit for that area.

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

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

The helicopter pilots may have likewise missed part of another interaction, when the tower said the jet was turning towards a different runway, Homendy said last month.

The helicopter was on a ‘check’ flight that night where the pilot was undergoing an annual test and a test on using 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 crew was extremely 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 track of both the helicopter and airplane traffic.

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

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

Surveillance video drawn 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 monitoring both the helicopter and plane traffic. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is seen here

After 9:30 pm the responsibilities are normally integrated and left to one person as the airport sees less traffic later in the night.

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

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

Reagan National has actually been understaffed for numerous years, with just 19 fully accredited controllers as of September 2023 – well listed below the target of 30 – according to the most current Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan submitted to Congress.

The situation appeared to have improved given that 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 brand-new, with widely known causes consisting of high turnover and spending plan 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, former Inspector General of the US Department of Transportation Mary Schiavo considered the findings as ‘uncommon’.

She said: ‘This NTSB action is highly unusual. The release of an emergency situation suggestion requesting the FAA take instant action, before the conclusion of the NTSB investigation is uncommon.’

The two airplane had actually clashed in a substantial fireball that was visible 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 traveler plane crashed-landed upside down in disorderly scenes at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada.

Miraculously, everybody on board survived after being suspended upside-down by their seat belts for a number of minutes till they tentatively started leaving.

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

Some 21 individuals were required to the health center for treatment to minor injuries, and Delta has actually used each individual a no-strings $30,000 payment in payment.

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

Dramatic video footage revealed the Beechcraft A36TC appear in flames in the parking area of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five people were rushed to health center.

Medics, ambulances, and emergency situation vehicles rushed to the scene in Lancaster County as flames swallowed up the airplane and nearby vehicles.

The airplane took off as arranged on Sunday afternoon, however quickly asked for to land back on the tarmac since its door had opened.

American Airlines