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

Federal investigators have raised concerns of a capacity for another fatal aircraft crash at Reagan National Airport, after a midair collision previously this year eliminated 67.

The National Transportation Safety Board offered an update 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 clashed in midair over the Potomac River, killing everybody on board both aircrafts.

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

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

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

When cops, medical or presidential transport helicopters need to use the area civilian planes are stopped from remaining in the very same location.

Homendy said the NTSB is now advising that the FAA discover a ‘permanent service’ for alternate paths for helicopters when 2 of the airport’s runways remain in usage.

Emergency units react after a passenger 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 deadly disaster.

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

It was discovered that 15,214 ‘near-miss occasions’ of planes getting notifies about helicopters being in close distance between October 2021 and December 2024.

The NTSB likewise stated that there were 85 cases where two airplane where laterally divided by less than 1,500 feet, and a vertical separation of less than 200 feet.

Homendy added: ‘That information from October 2021 through December 2024, (the FAA) might have utilized that details at any time to identify that we have a pattern here and a problem here, and took a look at that route; that didn’t happen, which is why we’re acting today. But sadly, individuals lost lives, and enjoyed ones are grieving.’

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

Duffy stated: ‘I think the question is when this data comes in how did the FAA not know. How did they not study the data to say “hello, this is a location, 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, possibly there was a concentrate on something aside from safety.’

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 people

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Investigators think that the helicopter involved in the crash might have had inaccurate altitude readings in the minutes before the crash.

The collision 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 invited the report by the NTSB, stating: ‘We’re grateful for the National Transportation Safety Board’s immediate safety recommendations to limit helicopter traffic near DCA and for its comprehensive examination.

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

The helicopter pilots might have likewise missed out on part of another interaction, when the tower said the jet was turning towards a various runway, Homendy said last month.

The helicopter was on a ‘check’ flight that night where the pilot was going through an annual test and a test on using night vision safety glasses, Homendy said.

Investigators believe the team was using night vision goggles throughout the flight.

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

At the time of the collision, a single air traffic controller was all at once keeping an eye on both the helicopter and airplane traffic.

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

Those tasks are usually dealt with between two individuals from 10am till 9:30 pm, according to the report.

Surveillance video footage taken from inside the airport caught the minute the two clashed in midair

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

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

A supervisor apparently 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 typical for the time of day and volume of traffic’.

Reagan National has been understaffed for numerous years, with simply 19 totally 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 improved 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 service towers is absolutely nothing new, with widely known causes consisting of high turnover and budget cuts.

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In order to fill the gaps, controllers are often asked to work 10-hour days, 6 days a week.

After the release of the report, previous Inspector General of the US Department of Transportation Mary Schiavo deemed the findings as ‘unusual’.

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

The two aircraft had collided in a big fireball that was noticeable on of automobiles driving on highways that snake around the airport, before plunging into the river.

Less than a month later on, on February 17, a Delta guest airplane crashed-landed upside down in disorderly scenes at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada.

Miraculously, everyone on board endured after being suspended upside-down by their seatbelts for numerous minutes till they tentatively started leaving.

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

Some 21 people were required to the hospital for treatment to minor injuries, and Delta has actually used each person a no-strings $30,000 payment in settlement.

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

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

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

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

American Airlines