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

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

The National Transportation Safety Board offered an upgrade on their examination into the cause of the disaster which occurred on January 29 in Washington.

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

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

NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy stated: ‘We stay concerned about the significant potential for future mid-air crash at DCA.’

Her concerns focus on Transport Secretary Sean Duffy moving to restrict helicopter traffic around the location, but that is set to cease at the end of the month.

When authorities, medical or governmental transport helicopters must utilize the space civilian aircrafts are stopped from being in the very same location.

Homendy stated the NTSB is now advising that the FAA find a ‘irreversible option’ for detours for helicopters when 2 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 to press reporters about the 29 January mid-air crash

It was likewise exposed on Tuesday that there was warning check in the lead up to the fatal catastrophe.

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

It was uncovered that 15,214 ‘near-miss occasions’ of planes getting notifies about helicopters remaining in close proximity in 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 added: ‘That data from October 2021 through December 2024, (the FAA) could have used that information any time to determine that we have a trend here and a problem here, and looked at that route; that didn’t occur, which is why we’re doing something about it today. But sadly, people 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 is available in how did the FAA not understand. How did they not study the data to say «hi, this is a hot spot, we are having near misses and if we do not alter our ways we are gon na lose lives».’

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

Duffy would later included when questioned by a 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 clashed with an Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday night, eliminating 67 individuals

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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 accident likely happened at an altitude just under 300 feet, as the aircraft came down towards the chopper, which was above its 200-foot limit 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 safety recommendations to limit helicopter traffic near DCA and for its thorough examination.

‘We will continue to collaborate closely with PSA Airlines as it cooperates 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 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 safety glasses, Homendy said.

Investigators believe the crew was wearing night vision goggles throughout the flight.

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

At the time of the crash, a single air traffic controller was simultaneously keeping track of both the helicopter and airplane traffic.

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

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

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

At the time of the accident, a single air traffic controller was all at once monitoring both the helicopter and plane traffic. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is seen here

After 9:30 pm the duties are typically combined and left to one individual as the airport sees less traffic later in the night.

A manager apparently chose to combine those tasks before the arranged cutoff time however, and permitted 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 just 19 totally accredited controllers since 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 enhanced ever since, 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 towers is nothing brand-new, with well-known causes consisting of high turnover and budget cuts.

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In order to fill the spaces, controllers are often 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 considered the findings as ‘unusual’.

She said: action is highly unusual. The release of an emergency suggestion requesting the FAA take immediate action, before the conclusion of the NTSB examination is uncommon.’

The 2 aircraft had clashed in a big fireball that was visible on dashcams of vehicles 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 chaotic scenes at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada.

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

The plane had been heading to Toronto from Minneapolis — Saint Paul International Airport with 76 travelers and four crew members on board.

Some 21 people were required to the medical facility for treatment to small injuries, and Delta has actually used each individual a no-strings $30,000 payment in payment.

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 video footage revealed the Beechcraft A36TC emerge in flames in the parking area of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five individuals were rushed to hospital.

Medics, ambulances, and emergency situation automobiles rushed to the scene in Lancaster County as flames engulfed the aircraft and close-by lorries.

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

American Airlines