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

Federal detectives have actually raised issues of a capacity for another lethal airplane 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 catastrophe which happened on January 29 in Washington.

An American Airlines jetliner and a Black Hawk military helicopter collided in midair over the Potomac River, eliminating everyone on board both airplanes.

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

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

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

When authorities, medical or presidential transport helicopters must use the area civilian aircrafts are stopped from remaining in the very same location.

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

Emergency systems react 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 with reporters about the 29 January mid-air collision

It was likewise revealed on Tuesday that there was alerting signs in the lead up to the lethal catastrophe.

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

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

The NTSB also stated 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 data from October 2021 through December 2024, (the FAA) might have used that information at any time to identify that we have a pattern here and an issue here, and looked at that route; that didn’t take place, which is why we’re taking action today. But sadly, individuals lost lives, and liked ones are grieving.’

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

Duffy said: ‘I believe the question is when this data is available in how did the FAA not understand. How did they not study the information to say “hello, this is a hot spot, we are having near misses out on and if we do not 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 reporter about the near misses out on that the data 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 think that the helicopter involved in the crash may have had incorrect altitude readings in the minutes before the crash.

The crash likely took place at an altitude simply under 300 feet, as the plane came down towards the chopper, which was above its 200-foot limit for that area.

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

‘We will continue to coordinate carefully with PSA Airlines as it cooperates as an investigative party member.’

The helicopter pilots might have also missed part of another communication, when the tower said the jet was turning towards a various 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 think the team was using night vision goggles throughout the flight.

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

At the time of the crash, a single air traffic controller was concurrently monitoring both the helicopter and plane traffic.

Those tasks are usually managed in between 2 people from 10am until 9:30 pm, according to an early FAA report seen by The New York Times.

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

Surveillance video taken from inside the airport captured the moment the two collided in midair

At the time of the accident, a single air traffic controller was at the same time keeping an eye on both the helicopter and airplane traffic. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is seen here

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

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

The FAA report stated 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 accredited controllers since September 2023 – well below the target of 30 – according to the most current Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan sent to Congress.

The situation appeared to have enhanced since 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 towers is absolutely nothing new, with popular causes including high turnover and spending plan 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 considered the findings as ‘unusual’.

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

The two aircraft had actually collided in a huge fireball that was visible 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 passenger airplane crashed-landed upside down in chaotic scenes at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada.

Miraculously, everyone on board endured after being suspended upside-down by their seatbelts for several minutes until they tentatively started evacuating.

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 hospital for treatment to minor injuries, and Delta has offered each person a no-strings $30,000 payment in payment.

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

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 situation automobiles hurried to the scene in Lancaster County as flames swallowed up the airplane and nearby automobiles.

The plane took off as scheduled on Sunday afternoon, but quickly requested to land back on the tarmac since its door had opened.

American Airlines