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

Federal detectives have raised issues of a capacity for another fatal airplane crash at Reagan National Airport, after a midair crash earlier this year eliminated 67.

The National Transportation Safety Board offered 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, killing everyone on board both airplanes.

As part of a preliminary report launched on Tuesday, investigators raised issues of more collisions including helicopters at the airport.

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

Her concerns focus on 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 police, medical or governmental transportation helicopters need to use the space civilian planes are stopped from remaining in the very same location.

Homendy stated the NTSB is now recommending that the FAA discover a ‘irreversible option’ for alternate routes for helicopters when 2 of the airport’s runways remain in use.

Emergency units respond after a passenger airplane hit 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 talks to press reporters about the 29 January mid-air accident

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 alerts about helicopters being in close proximity between October 2021 and December 2024.

The NTSB also stated 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 added: ‘That data from October 2021 through December 2024, (the FAA) might have utilized that info at any time to identify that we have a trend here and a problem here, and took a look at that route; that didn’t take place, which is why we’re taking action today. But regrettably, individuals lost lives, and enjoyed ones are grieving.’

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

Duffy said: ‘I believe the question is when this information is available in how did the FAA not know. How did they not study the information to state “hey, this is a hot spot, 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 aside from security.’

Duffy would later on included 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 sitting in the Potomac River after Flight 5342 hit an Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday night, eliminating 67 individuals

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

The accident likely took place at an elevation just under 300 feet, as the aircraft descended towards the chopper, which was above its 200-foot limitation for that place.

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

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

The helicopter pilots may have also missed part of another interaction, when the tower said 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 going through an annual test and a test on utilizing night vision goggles, Homendy said.

Investigators believe the crew was wearing night vision goggles throughout the flight.

The Army has said 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 concurrently keeping an eye on both the helicopter and aircraft traffic.

Those jobs are typically managed in between 2 people from 10am up until 9:30 pm, according to an early FAA report seen by The New york city Times.

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

drawn from inside the airport recorded the minute the 2 collided in midair

At the time of the collision, 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 tasks are normally combined and delegated a single person as the airport sees less traffic later in the night.

A manager supposedly decided to combine those duties before the scheduled cutoff time nevertheless, 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 been understaffed for numerous years, with just 19 fully certified 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 situation appeared to have actually improved ever since, as a source told 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 absolutely nothing brand-new, with well-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, former Inspector General of the US Department of Transportation Mary Schiavo deemed the findings as ‘unusual’.

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

The 2 airplane had clashed in a huge fireball that showed up on dashcams of cars driving on highways that snake around the airport, before plunging into the river.

Less than a month later, on February 17, a Delta traveler airplane crashed-landed upside down in disorderly scenes at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada.

Miraculously, everyone on board made it through after being suspended upside-down by their seatbelts for several minutes until they tentatively started evacuating.

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

Some 21 people were taken to the medical facility for treatment to minor injuries, and Delta has actually offered each individual a no-strings $30,000 payout in payment.

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

Dramatic footage showed the Beechcraft A36TC erupt in flames in the parking lot of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five people were rushed to healthcare facility.

Medics, ambulances, and emergency situation lorries hurried to the scene in Lancaster County as flames swallowed up the plane and close-by lorries.

The plane took off as scheduled on Sunday afternoon, however rapidly asked for to land back on the tarmac because its door had opened.

American Airlines