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

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

The National Transportation Safety Board gave an upgrade on their investigation 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, eliminating everyone on board both airplanes.

As part of an initial report launched on Tuesday, detectives raised concerns of more collisions including helicopters at the airport.

NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy stated: ‘We remain concerned about the significant capacity 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 presidential transportation helicopters must use the space civilian aircrafts are stopped from remaining in the exact same area.

Homendy said the NTSB is now suggesting that the FAA discover a ‘permanent solution’ for detours for helicopters when two of the airport’s runways remain in use.

Emergency systems react after a traveler aircraft 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 reporters about the 29 January mid-air crash

It was likewise revealed on Tuesday that there was warning signs 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 revealed that 15,214 ‘near-miss events’ of planes getting signals about helicopters being in close distance between October 2021 and December 2024.

The NTSB likewise said that there were 85 cases where two aircraft 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) could have utilized that details any time to identify that we have a pattern here and a problem here, and looked at that route; that didn’t happen, which is why we’re doing something about it today. But sadly, individuals lost lives, and liked ones are grieving.’

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

Duffy stated: ‘I believe the question is when this information comes in how did the FAA not understand. How did they not study the data to say “hey, this is a hot spot, we are having near misses out on and if we do not alter our methods we are gon na lose lives”.’

He added: ‘That wasn’t done, possibly there was a focus on something aside from safety.’

Duffy would later included when questioned by a press reporter about the near misses out on that the data had ‘p *** ed him off’.

Pictured: Parts of the wreckage seen sitting in the Potomac River after Flight 5342 collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday night, killing 67 people

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

The crash likely happened at an elevation just under 300 feet, as the plane descended toward the chopper, which was above its 200-foot limitation for that area.

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

‘We will continue to coordinate closely with PSA Airlines as it works together as an investigative party member.’

The helicopter pilots might have likewise missed part of another interaction, when the tower stated 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 an annual 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 said the Black Hawk crew was highly 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 aircraft traffic.

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

Those jobs are normally dealt with between 2 people from 10am up until 9:30 pm, according to the report.

Surveillance footage drawn from inside the airport captured the moment the two collided in midair

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

A manager apparently decided to integrate those duties before the arranged cutoff time nevertheless, and allowed one air traffic controller to leave work early.

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

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

The situation 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 absolutely nothing new, with popular causes including high turnover and budget plan cuts.

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In order to fill the gaps, 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 ‘uncommon’.

She said: ‘This NTSB action is extremely uncommon. The release of an emergency situation recommendation requesting the FAA take instant action, before the completion of the NTSB investigation is rare.’

The two aircraft had actually collided in a big fireball that was visible on dashcams of vehicles driving on highways that snake around the airport, before into the river.

Less than a month later, 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 survived after being suspended upside-down by their seatbelts for several minutes till they tentatively started leaving.

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

Some 21 individuals were taken to the health center for treatment to small injuries, and Delta has actually used everyone 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 parking lot of a rural Pennsylvania retirement home.

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

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

The airplane took off as set up on Sunday afternoon, but quickly asked for to land back on the tarmac due to the fact that its door had opened.

American Airlines