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

Federal detectives have actually raised concerns of a for another deadly plane crash at Reagan National Airport, after a midair collision earlier this year eliminated 67.

The National Transportation Safety Board provided an update on their investigation into the cause of the disaster which happened 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 aircrafts.

As part of a preliminary report released on Tuesday, private investigators raised issues of more collisions involving helicopters at the airport.

NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said: ‘We stay worried about the significant capacity for future mid-air collision at DCA.’

Her concerns revolve around Transport Secretary Sean Duffy transferring to restrict helicopter traffic around the location, but that is set to stop at the end of the month.

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

Homendy said the NTSB is now suggesting that the FAA discover a ‘irreversible solution’ for alternate routes for helicopters when two of the airport’s runways are in use.

Emergency units react after a passenger aircraft collided 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 with reporters about the 29 January mid-air crash

It was likewise exposed 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 events’ of airplanes getting informs about helicopters being in close proximity in between October 2021 and December 2024.

The NTSB also said that there were 85 cases where 2 aircraft where laterally split 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 utilized that info any time to determine that we have a trend here and an issue here, and looked at that path; that didn’t take place, which is why we’re taking action today. But unfortunately, individuals lost lives, and liked ones are grieving.’

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

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

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

Duffy would later on included when questioned by a press 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, killing 67 individuals

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

The accident most likely happened at an altitude simply under 300 feet, as the airplane came down toward the chopper, which was above its 200-foot limitation for that place.

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

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

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

Investigators think the team was using 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 crash, a single air traffic controller was concurrently monitoring both the helicopter and plane traffic.

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

Those tasks are normally managed between 2 individuals from 10am until 9:30 pm, according to the report.

Surveillance video drawn from inside the airport captured the moment the 2 clashed in midair

At the time of the accident, 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 tasks are normally combined and delegated someone as the airport sees less traffic later on in the night.

A supervisor reportedly decided to combine those duties before the scheduled cutoff time however, and allowed one air traffic controller to leave work early.

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

Reagan National has actually been understaffed for several years, with simply 19 fully certified controllers as of 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 towers is absolutely nothing brand-new, with popular 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, former Inspector General of the US Department of Transportation Mary Schiavo deemed the findings as ‘unusual’.

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

The two aircraft had clashed in a big fireball that was noticeable 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 aircraft crashed-landed upside down in disorderly scenes at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada.

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

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

Some 21 people were required to the health center for treatment to small injuries, and Delta has used everyone a no-strings $30,000 payment in compensation.

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

Dramatic footage showed the Beechcraft A36TC appear in flames in the parking lot of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five individuals were rushed to healthcare facility.

Medics, ambulances, and emergency situation vehicles hurried to the scene in Lancaster County as flames swallowed up the aircraft and close-by vehicles.

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

American Airlines