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

Federal investigators have actually raised concerns of a potential for another deadly aircraft crash at Reagan National Airport, after a midair accident earlier this year killed 67.

The National Transportation Safety Board offered an update on their investigation into the reason for the disaster which occurred on January 29 in Washington.

An American Airlines jetliner and a Black Hawk military helicopter clashed in midair over the Potomac River, eliminating everybody on board both aircrafts.

As part of an initial report launched on Tuesday, private investigators raised issues of more accidents including helicopters at the airport.

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

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

When authorities, medical or governmental transportation helicopters should utilize the space civilian planes are stopped from remaining in the same location.

Homendy stated the NTSB is now suggesting that the FAA discover a ‘long-term solution’ for detours for helicopters when 2 of the airport’s runways remain in usage.

Emergency units respond after a traveler airplane 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 with 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 fatal disaster.

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

It was revealed that 15,214 ‘near-miss occasions’ of airplanes getting informs about helicopters remaining in close distance in between October 2021 and December 2024.

The NTSB likewise said that there were 85 cases where 2 airplane 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 used that information whenever to determine that we have a trend here and an issue here, and looked at that path; that didn’t happen, which is why we’re acting 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 said: ‘I think the concern is when this data comes in how did the FAA not know. How did they not study the data to state “hello, this is a hot spot, we are having near misses out on and if we do not change our ways we are gon na lose lives”.’

He included: ‘That wasn’t done, possibly there was a concentrate on something other than safety.’

Duffy would later added 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, eliminating 67 people

Your web browser does not support iframes.

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

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

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

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

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

The helicopter was on a ‘check’ flight that night where the pilot was undergoing an annual test and a test on utilizing night vision safety glasses, Homendy stated.

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

The Army has said the Black Hawk team was extremely experienced, and accustomed to the crowded skies around the country ´ s capital.

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

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

Those jobs are usually managed between 2 people from 10am until 9:30 pm, according to the report.

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

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

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

A supervisor reportedly decided to combine those tasks before the scheduled cutoff time however, 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 lots of years, with simply 19 fully licensed controllers since September 2023 – well listed below the target of 30 – according to the most recent Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan sent to Congress.

The scenario appeared to have actually enhanced since then, 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 nothing new, with well-known causes including high turnover and budget plan cuts.

EXCLUSIVE

Full list of DC plane crash victims: Four more guests determined after DC airport disaster

In order to fill the spaces, 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 ‘uncommon’.

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

The two aircraft had actually clashed in a substantial fireball that was visible 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 traveler aircraft crashed-landed upside down in chaotic scenes at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada.

Miraculously, everyone on board made it through after being suspended upside-down by their seatbelts for several minutes until they tentatively started leaving.

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

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

And the plane carnage is continuous – 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 emerge in flames in the parking lot of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five individuals were hurried to hospital.

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

The airplane took off as scheduled on Sunday afternoon, however rapidly requested to land back on the tarmac because its door had actually opened.

American Airlines