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

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

The National Transportation Safety Board offered an update 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, eliminating everybody on board both airplanes.

As part of an initial report launched on Tuesday, private investigators raised issues of more accidents involving 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, however that is set to cease at the end of the month.

When cops, medical or governmental transport helicopters need to use the area civilian planes are stopped from being in the exact same location.

Homendy said the NTSB is now suggesting that the FAA discover a ‘permanent option’ for detours for helicopters when 2 of the airport’s runways remain in usage.

Emergency units respond after a passenger aircraft 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 reporters about the 29 January mid-air collision

It was likewise revealed on Tuesday that there was cautioning check in the lead up to the lethal disaster.

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

It was uncovered that 15,214 ‘near-miss occasions’ of airplanes getting alerts about helicopters remaining in close proximity 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 included: ‘That data from October 2021 through December 2024, (the FAA) could have used that info whenever to identify that we have a trend here and a problem here, and looked at that route; that didn’t occur, which is why we’re acting today. But sadly, individuals lost lives, and loved ones are grieving.’

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

Duffy stated: ‘I think the concern is when this data is available in how did the FAA not understand. How did they not study the data to state “hey, this is a location, 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, possibly there was a focus on something besides 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 sitting in the Potomac River after Flight 5342 collided with 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 unreliable elevation readings in the minutes before the crash.

The collision most likely occurred at an elevation just under 300 feet, as the airplane came down towards the chopper, which was above its 200-foot limitation for that location.

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

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

The helicopter pilots may have likewise missed out on part of another communication, when the tower stated the jet was turning toward a different runway, Homendy said last month.

The helicopter was on a that night where the pilot was undergoing a yearly test and a test on using night vision goggles, Homendy said.

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

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

At the time of the accident, a single air traffic controller was simultaneously keeping track of both the helicopter and aircraft traffic.

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

Those jobs are generally dealt with in between 2 individuals from 10am until 9:30 pm, according to the report.

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

At the time of the collision, a single air traffic controller was at the same time keeping track of both the helicopter and aircraft traffic. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is seen here

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

A supervisor reportedly decided to integrate those responsibilities before the arranged cutoff time nevertheless, and permitted 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 lots of years, with simply 19 completely certified controllers as of September 2023 – well below the target of 30 – according to the most recent Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan submitted to Congress.

The situation appeared to have 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 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 regularly 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 considered the findings as ‘unusual’.

She said: ‘This NTSB action is highly uncommon. The release of an emergency situation suggestion asking for the FAA take instant action, before the completion of the NTSB investigation is rare.’

The 2 aircraft had actually clashed in a huge fireball that showed up 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 traveler aircraft crashed-landed upside down in chaotic scenes at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada.

Miraculously, everybody on board made it through after being suspended upside-down by their seatbelts for several minutes up until they tentatively began leaving.

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

Some 21 people were taken to the hospital for treatment to minor injuries, and Delta has used each individual a no-strings $30,000 payment in payment.

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

Dramatic footage showed the Beechcraft A36TC erupt in flames in the car park of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five individuals were rushed to medical facility.

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

The airplane took off as scheduled on Sunday afternoon, however rapidly requested to land back on the tarmac since its door had actually opened.

American Airlines