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

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

The National Transportation Safety Board offered an update 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 collided in midair over the Potomac River, killing everybody on board both airplanes.

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

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

Her concerns revolve around Transport Secretary Sean Duffy transferring to limit helicopter traffic around the area, however that is set to stop at the end of the month.

When cops, medical or presidential transport helicopters should utilize the area civilian airplanes are stopped from remaining in the exact same area.

Homendy said the NTSB is now advising that the FAA discover a ‘long-term solution’ for alternate paths for helicopters when 2 of the airport’s runways remain in usage.

Emergency systems react 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 crash

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

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 aircrafts getting informs about helicopters remaining in close proximity in 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 pattern here and an issue here, and took a look at that route; that didn’t take place, which is why we’re doing something about it today. But regrettably, individuals lost lives, and liked ones are grieving.’

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

Duffy said: ‘I think the question is when this data can be found 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 ways we are gon na lose lives”.’

He included: ‘That wasn’t done, perhaps there was a concentrate on something besides security.’

Duffy would later on added 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 sitting in the Potomac River after Flight 5342 clashed with 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 inaccurate elevation readings in the minutes before the crash.

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

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

‘We will continue to coordinate 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 said the jet was turning toward a different runway, Homendy stated 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 goggles, Homendy stated.

Investigators believe the crew was wearing night vision safety glasses throughout the flight.

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

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

Those tasks are usually managed between two people from 10am till 9:30 pm, according to an early FAA report seen by The New york city Times.

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

Surveillance video drawn from inside the airport recorded the moment the two clashed in midair

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

After 9:30 pm the responsibilities are typically combined and delegated a single person as the airport sees less traffic later in the night.

A manager reportedly decided to combine those duties 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 typical for the time of day and volume of traffic’.

Reagan National has actually been understaffed for several years, with just 19 totally licensed controllers as of September 2023 – well listed below the target of 30 – according to the most recent Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan sent to Congress.

The circumstance appeared to have 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 consisting of high turnover and budget 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, previous Inspector General of the US Department of Transportation Mary Schiavo considered the findings as ‘uncommon’.

She stated: ‘This NTSB action is extremely uncommon. The release of an emergency suggestion asking for the FAA take instant action, before the conclusion of the NTSB investigation is unusual.’

The two aircraft had actually collided in a substantial 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, on February 17, a Delta guest airplane crashed-landed upside down in chaotic scenes at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada.

Miraculously, everybody on board survived after being suspended upside-down by their seat belts for a number of minutes until they tentatively began leaving.

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

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

And the aircraft carnage is ongoing – on Sunday, yet another jet crash-landed, this time in a parking area of a suburban Pennsylvania retirement home.

Dramatic video showed the Beechcraft A36TC appear in flames in the parking lot of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five people were rushed to hospital.

Medics, ambulances, and emergency situation vehicles rushed to the scene in Lancaster County as flames engulfed the airplane and nearby automobiles.

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

American Airlines