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

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

The National Transportation Safety Board offered an upgrade on their investigation into the cause of the catastrophe 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 everybody on board both airplanes.

As part of an initial report released on Tuesday, private investigators raised concerns of more crashes involving helicopters at the airport.

NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said: ‘We stay worried about the substantial potential for future mid-air accident at DCA.’

Her issues focus on Transport Secretary Sean Duffy relocating to restrict helicopter traffic around the area, however that is set to stop at the end of the month.

When police, medical or governmental transportation helicopters should utilize the space civilian airplanes are stopped from remaining in the same area.

Homendy said the NTSB is now recommending that the FAA find a ‘long-term service’ for detours for helicopters when 2 of the airport’s runways remain in use.

Emergency systems react after a guest aircraft clashed with 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 revealed on Tuesday that there was warning check in the lead up to the lethal disaster.

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

It was discovered that 15,214 ‘near-miss occasions’ of airplanes getting alerts about helicopters being in close proximity between October 2021 and December 2024.

The NTSB also said that there were 85 cases where two aircraft 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) might have utilized that information any time to determine that we have a trend here and an issue here, and took a look at that path; 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 interview 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 “hi, this is a hot spot, we are having near misses out on and if we don’t alter our ways we are gon na lose lives”.’

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

Duffy would later added 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 collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday night, eliminating 67 people

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Investigators think that the helicopter included in the crash may have had unreliable elevation readings in the minutes before the crash.

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

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

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

The helicopter pilots may have also 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 a yearly test and a test on using night vision goggles, Homendy stated.

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

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

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

Those tasks are generally managed 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 two people from 10am until 9:30 pm, according to the report.

Surveillance video taken from inside the airport caught the moment the 2 clashed in midair

At the time of the collision, a single air traffic controller was simultaneously keeping an eye on both the helicopter and aircraft traffic. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is seen here

After 9:30 pm the duties are usually combined and delegated one person as the airport sees less traffic later on in the night.

A manager apparently decided to integrate those tasks before the scheduled cutoff time nevertheless, and enabled one air traffic controller to leave work early.

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

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

The situation appeared to have actually 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 nothing new, with well-known causes consisting of high turnover and spending plan cuts.

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In order to fill the gaps, controllers are regularly asked to work 10-hour days, six days a week.

After the release of the report, previous Inspector General of the US Department of Transportation Mary Schiavo deemed the findings as ‘unusual’.

She stated: ‘This NTSB action is extremely uncommon. The release of an emergency recommendation asking for the FAA take immediate action, before the conclusion of the NTSB examination is rare.’

The 2 airplane had collided in a substantial fireball that was noticeable 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 passenger plane 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 started evacuating.

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

Some 21 people were required to the hospital for treatment to minor injuries, and Delta has actually offered everyone 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 home.

Dramatic video revealed the Beechcraft A36TC erupt in flames in the parking lot of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five individuals were hurried to healthcare facility.

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

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

American Airlines