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

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

The National Transportation Safety Board gave an upgrade on their investigation into the cause of the catastrophe which occurred on January 29 in Washington.

An American Airlines jetliner and a Black Hawk military helicopter collided in midair over the Potomac River, killing everyone on board both aircrafts.

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

NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said: ‘We remain concerned about the substantial capacity for future mid-air crash 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 police, medical or governmental transportation helicopters must utilize the area civilian planes are stopped from remaining in the same location.

Homendy stated the NTSB is now advising that the FAA discover a ‘long-term option’ for detours for helicopters when two of the airport’s runways remain in use.

Emergency systems react after a guest aircraft collided with a helicopter in the near Ronald Reagan Washington Airport on January 30, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia

Chairman of the National Transportation Safety Bureau (NTSB) Jennifer Homendy talks to press reporters about the 29 January mid-air accident

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

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

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

The NTSB likewise 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) could have used that information whenever to identify that we have a trend here and a problem here, and took a look at that path; that didn’t take place, which is why we’re acting today. But regrettably, people lost lives, and liked ones are grieving.’

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

Duffy stated: ‘I believe the question is when this information comes in how did the FAA not know. How did they not study the data to state “hi, this is a hot area, we are having near misses out on and if we don’t change our methods we are gon na lose lives”.’

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

Duffy would later added when questioned by a press reporter about the near misses out on that the data 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 people

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Investigators believe that the helicopter included in the crash may have had inaccurate elevation readings in the minutes before the crash.

The collision likely happened at an elevation just under 300 feet, as the aircraft 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 immediate safety suggestions to restrict helicopter traffic near DCA and for its extensive examination.

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

The helicopter pilots might have likewise missed out on part of another communication, 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 going through a yearly test and a test on utilizing night vision safety glasses, Homendy stated.

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

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

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

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

Those tasks are typically dealt with between two people from 10am until 9:30 pm, according to the report.

Surveillance video taken from inside the airport caught the minute the 2 collided in midair

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

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

A manager reportedly chose to combine those responsibilities before the arranged cutoff time nevertheless, and permitted one air traffic controller to leave work early.

The FAA report stated 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 just 19 completely accredited controllers as of September 2023 – well below the target of 30 – according to the most recent Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan sent to Congress.

The situation appeared to have actually 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 towers is absolutely nothing brand-new, with well-known causes consisting of high turnover and budget cuts.

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

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

The two 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 February 17, a Delta passenger plane crashed-landed upside down in disorderly scenes at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada.

Miraculously, everyone on board survived after being suspended upside-down by their seatbelts for several minutes until they tentatively started leaving.

The aircraft 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 hospital for treatment to small injuries, and Delta has used everyone a no-strings $30,000 payment in settlement.

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

Dramatic footage showed the Beechcraft A36TC emerge in flames in the parking lot of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five people were hurried to hospital.

Medics, ambulances, and emergency situation lorries hurried to the scene in Lancaster County as flames engulfed the aircraft and close-by automobiles.

The plane took off as set up on Sunday afternoon, but rapidly requested to land back on the tarmac due to the fact that its door had actually opened.

American Airlines