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

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

The National Transportation Safety Board offered an update on their examination into the reason for the disaster 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 airplanes.

As part of a preliminary report launched on Tuesday, investigators raised concerns of more accidents involving helicopters at the airport.

NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy stated: ‘We remain concerned about the significant capacity for future mid-air crash at DCA.’

Her concerns focus on Transport Secretary Sean Duffy moving to limit helicopter traffic around the location, but that is set to stop at the end of the month.

When police, medical or governmental transportation helicopters must utilize the area civilian planes are stopped from being in the exact same area.

Homendy stated the NTSB is now suggesting that the FAA find a ‘long-term option’ for alternate routes for helicopters when two of the airport’s runways are in use.

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 speaks with press reporters about the 29 January mid-air collision

It was also exposed on Tuesday that there was cautioning check 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 uncovered that 15,214 ‘near-miss occasions’ of planes getting informs about helicopters remaining in close proximity between October 2021 and December 2024.

The NTSB likewise said that there were 85 cases where two airplane where laterally split by less than 1,500 feet, and a vertical separation of less than 200 feet.

Homendy included: ‘That information from October 2021 through December 2024, (the FAA) could have utilized that details any time to figure out that we have a trend here and an issue here, and took a look at that route; that didn’t happen, which is why we’re taking action today. But unfortunately, 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 think the question is when this data comes in how did the FAA not know. How did they not study the information to state “hello, this is a hot area, we are having near misses and if we don’t change our methods 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 included when questioned by a press 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 hit an Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday night, eliminating 67 people

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Investigators think that the helicopter associated with the crash might have had unreliable altitude readings in the minutes before the crash.

The accident most likely took place at an altitude simply under 300 feet, as the aircraft came down toward 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 thorough examination.

‘We will continue to coordinate carefully with PSA Airlines as it works together 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 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 said.

Investigators believe the team was using night vision goggles throughout the flight.

The Army has stated the Black Hawk team 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 all at once keeping an eye on both the helicopter and airplane traffic.

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

Those jobs are generally handled between 2 individuals from 10am till 9:30 pm, according to the report.

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

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

After 9:30 pm the duties are usually integrated and left to a single person as the airport sees less traffic later on in the night.

A supervisor reportedly decided to combine those duties before the set up 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 been understaffed for numerous years, with just 19 totally 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 situation appeared to have enhanced 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 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, former Inspector General of the US Department of Transportation Mary Schiavo deemed the findings as ‘uncommon’.

She stated: ‘This NTSB action is highly unusual. The release of an emergency situation recommendation requesting the FAA take immediate action, before the completion of the NTSB examination is rare.’

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

Miraculously, everybody on board survived after being suspended upside-down by their seatbelts for numerous minutes until they tentatively began evacuating.

The aircraft had been heading to Toronto from Minneapolis – Saint Paul International Airport with 76 travelers and 4 team members on board.

Some 21 people were required to the medical facility for treatment to minor injuries, and Delta has actually used everyone 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 parking area of a suburban Pennsylvania retirement community.

Dramatic footage revealed 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 lorries hurried to the scene in Lancaster County as flames engulfed the airplane and neighboring cars.

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

American Airlines