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

Federal detectives have raised issues of a potential for another lethal aircraft crash at Reagan National Airport, after a midair crash earlier this year killed 67.

The National Transportation Safety Board gave an upgrade on their examination into the cause of 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, eliminating everyone on board both aircrafts.

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

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

Her issues focus on Transport Secretary Sean Duffy transferring to limit helicopter traffic around the location, however that is set to cease at the end of the month.

When police, medical or presidential transportation helicopters should use the space civilian airplanes are stopped from being in the exact same location.

Homendy stated the NTSB is now advising that the FAA find a ‘irreversible service’ for detours for helicopters when two of the airport’s runways are in use.

Emergency systems respond after a guest 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 speaks to reporters about the 29 January mid-air crash

It was also exposed on Tuesday that there was warning signs in the lead up to the deadly catastrophe.

Those penetrating 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 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 included: ‘That information from October 2021 through December 2024, (the FAA) might have utilized that information whenever to determine that we have a pattern here and an issue here, and looked at that route; that didn’t happen, which is why we’re doing something about it today. But regrettably, individuals lost lives, and enjoyed ones are grieving.’

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

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

He added: ‘That wasn’t done, possibly there was a focus on something besides safety.’

Duffy would later included when questioned by a reporter about the near misses out on 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 individuals

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

The collision likely occurred at an altitude simply under 300 feet, as the airplane descended toward the chopper, which was above its 200-foot limitation for that place.

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

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

The helicopter pilots may have also missed part of another interaction, when the tower stated the jet was turning towards a various runway, Homendy said 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 stated.

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

The Army has stated the Black Hawk team was extremely experienced, and accustomed to the congested skies around the nation ´ s capital.

At the time of the accident, a single air traffic controller was all at once monitoring both the helicopter and aircraft traffic.

Those jobs are usually handled between two individuals from 10am till 9:30 pm, according to an early FAA report seen by The New York Times.

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

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

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

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

A manager reportedly chose to integrate those tasks before the set up cutoff time nevertheless, and enabled one air traffic controller to leave work early.

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

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

The scenario 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 service towers is absolutely nothing new, with widely known causes including high turnover and spending plan cuts.

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In order to fill the gaps, 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 ‘unusual’.

She stated: ‘This NTSB action is highly unusual. The release of an emergency situation recommendation asking for the FAA take instant action, before the completion of the NTSB investigation is unusual.’

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

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

Miraculously, everybody on board made it through after being suspended upside-down by their seat belts for a number of minutes up until they tentatively began evacuating.

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

Some 21 individuals were required to the health center for treatment to minor injuries, and Delta has actually used each person a no-strings $30,000 payment in settlement.

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

Dramatic video showed the Beechcraft A36TC appear in flames in the parking area of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five individuals were rushed to health center.

Medics, ambulances, and emergency lorries rushed to the scene in Lancaster County as flames swallowed up the plane and neighboring lorries.

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

American Airlines