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

Federal private investigators have raised concerns of a capacity for another deadly plane crash at Reagan National Airport, after a midair crash earlier this year eliminated 67.

The National Transportation Safety Board offered an update on their investigation into the cause of the catastrophe 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 a preliminary report released on Tuesday, private investigators raised issues of more accidents including helicopters at the airport.

NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said: ‘We stay worried about the considerable capacity for future mid-air accident at DCA.’

Her concerns revolve around Transport Secretary Sean Duffy relocating to restrict helicopter traffic around the location, however that is set to cease at the end of the month.

When cops, medical or presidential transportation helicopters must use the space civilian planes are stopped from being in the same area.

Homendy said the NTSB is now advising that the FAA find a ‘long-term solution’ for detours for helicopters when two of the airport’s runways are in use.

Emergency units respond after a guest 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 press reporters about the 29 January mid-air accident

It was also exposed on Tuesday that there was cautioning check in the lead up to the .

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

It was discovered that 15,214 ‘near-miss occasions’ of planes getting alerts about helicopters being in close distance 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 added: ‘That information from October 2021 through December 2024, (the FAA) could have used that information whenever to identify that we have a trend here and a problem here, and looked at that path; that didn’t occur, which is why we’re taking action today. But sadly, people lost lives, and loved ones are grieving.’

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

Duffy stated: ‘I believe the concern is when this data is available in how did the FAA not know. How did they not study the data to say “hi, this is a hot area, we are having near misses and if we don’t change our methods we are gon na lose lives”.’

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

Duffy would later included 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 collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday night, killing 67 people

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Investigators believe that the helicopter involved in the crash may have had inaccurate elevation readings in the minutes before the crash.

The collision most likely took place at an elevation just under 300 feet, as the aircraft came down towards the chopper, which was above its 200-foot limitation 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 recommendations to restrict helicopter traffic near DCA and for its extensive examination.

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

The helicopter pilots might have also missed out on part of another interaction, when the tower stated the jet was turning towards a different 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 using night vision safety glasses, Homendy said.

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

The Army has stated 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 all at once monitoring both the helicopter and aircraft traffic.

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

Those tasks are generally handled between 2 individuals from 10am until 9:30 pm, according to the report.

Surveillance video taken from inside the airport recorded the moment the two clashed in midair

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

After 9:30 pm the tasks are typically integrated and left to someone as the airport sees less traffic later in the night.

A manager supposedly chose to integrate those responsibilities before the set up cutoff time nevertheless, and permitted 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 been understaffed for numerous years, with just 19 fully licensed controllers since September 2023 – well listed below the target of 30 – according to the most current Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan submitted 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 service towers is absolutely nothing brand-new, with popular causes consisting of high turnover and spending plan cuts.

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In order to fill the gaps, 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 extremely unusual. The release of an emergency situation recommendation asking for the FAA take immediate action, before the completion of the NTSB investigation is rare.’

The two aircraft had actually clashed in a substantial fireball that showed up on dashcams of automobiles driving on highways that snake around the airport, before plunging into the river.

Less than a month later, on February 17, a Delta traveler plane 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 up until they tentatively started evacuating.

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

Some 21 individuals were taken to the hospital for treatment to small injuries, and Delta has actually used each individual a no-strings $30,000 payout in settlement.

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

Dramatic footage revealed the Beechcraft A36TC appear in flames in the parking area of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five people were rushed to health center.

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

The aircraft took off as arranged on Sunday afternoon, however rapidly requested to land back on the tarmac due to the fact that its door had actually opened.

American Airlines