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

Federal investigators have raised issues of a capacity for another lethal aircraft crash at Reagan National Airport, after a midair crash earlier this year eliminated 67.

The National Transportation Safety Board provided an update on their investigation into the reason for the catastrophe 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 aircrafts.

As part of an initial report launched on Tuesday, detectives raised concerns of more accidents including helicopters at the airport.

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

Her issues revolve around Transport Secretary Sean Duffy transferring to limit helicopter traffic around the location, 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 planes are from being in the exact same location.

Homendy stated the NTSB is now suggesting that the FAA find a ‘long-term service’ for alternate paths for helicopters when 2 of the airport’s runways are in usage.

Emergency units respond after a passenger aircraft collided 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 also revealed on Tuesday that there was warning indications in the lead up to the deadly 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 alerts about helicopters being in close distance in between October 2021 and December 2024.

The NTSB also said that there were 85 cases where two 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 utilized that info any time to identify that we have a trend here and an issue here, and took a look at that route; that didn’t take place, which is why we’re doing something about it today. But unfortunately, people lost lives, and loved ones are grieving.’

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

Duffy said: ‘I think the concern is when this data comes in how did the FAA not understand. How did they not study the information to say “hi, this is a location, we are having near misses out on and if we do not change our ways we are gon na lose lives”.’

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

Duffy would later on included when questioned by a reporter about the near misses 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, killing 67 individuals

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Investigators believe that the helicopter associated with the crash may have had unreliable elevation readings in the minutes before the crash.

The collision most likely took place at an altitude just under 300 feet, as the airplane descended towards the chopper, which was above its 200-foot limit for that area.

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 limit helicopter traffic near DCA and for its comprehensive investigation.

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

The helicopter pilots might have likewise missed out on part of another interaction, when the tower said the jet was turning toward 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 said.

Investigators believe the crew was wearing 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 country ´ s capital.

At the time of the crash, a single air traffic controller was simultaneously keeping an eye on both the helicopter and airplane traffic.

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

Those jobs are usually managed between two individuals from 10am till 9:30 pm, according to the report.

Surveillance video drawn from inside the airport captured the moment the two collided in midair

At the time of the collision, a single air traffic controller was simultaneously keeping an eye on both the helicopter and airplane traffic. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is seen here

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

A manager reportedly decided to integrate those duties before the scheduled cutoff time however, and allowed one air traffic controller to leave work early.

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

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

The scenario appeared to have enhanced 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 service towers is nothing brand-new, with well-known causes consisting of high turnover and budget plan cuts.

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In order to fill the spaces, 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 deemed the findings as ‘uncommon’.

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

The 2 airplane had actually clashed in a huge fireball that was noticeable on dashcams of vehicles driving on highways that snake around the airport, before plunging into the river.

Less than a month later, 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 endured after being suspended upside-down by their seatbelts for several minutes until they tentatively started evacuating.

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 people were required to the health center for treatment to small injuries, and Delta has used everyone a no-strings $۳۰,۰۰۰ payout in payment.

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 video showed 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 automobiles hurried to the scene in Lancaster County as flames swallowed up the airplane and neighboring cars.

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

American Airlines