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

Federal detectives have raised issues of a capacity for another fatal airplane crash at Reagan National Airport, after a midair accident earlier this year killed 67.

The National Transportation Safety Board provided an upgrade 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, killing everybody on board both airplanes.

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

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

Her concerns revolve around Transport Secretary Sean Duffy transferring to limit helicopter traffic around the location, however that is set to stop at the end of the month.

When cops, medical or governmental transportation helicopters need to utilize the area civilian planes are stopped from being in the very same location.

Homendy stated the NTSB is now recommending that the FAA find a ‘permanent solution’ for detours for helicopters when 2 of the airport’s runways are in use.

Emergency systems respond 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 with press reporters about the 29 January mid-air crash

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

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

It was uncovered that 15,214 ‘near-miss occasions’ of aircrafts getting signals about helicopters being in close proximity in between October 2021 and December 2024.

The NTSB likewise stated that there were 85 cases where 2 aircraft 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) might have used that details any time to determine that we have a pattern here and an issue here, and took a look at that path; that didn’t take place, which is why we’re acting today. But regrettably, people lost lives, and enjoyed ones are grieving.’

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

Duffy said: ‘I believe the concern is when this data is available in how did the FAA not know. How did they not study the information to state “hi, this is a location, we are having near misses out on and if we don’t change our ways we are gon na lose lives”.’

He included: ‘That wasn’t done, perhaps there was a concentrate 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 hit an Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday night, eliminating 67 people

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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 crash most likely took place at an elevation just under 300 feet, as the airplane descended toward 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 urgent safety suggestions to limit helicopter traffic near DCA and for its comprehensive investigation.

‘We will continue to coordinate closely with PSA Airlines as it cooperates as an investigative party 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 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 think the team was wearing night vision safety glasses 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 accident, a single air traffic controller was simultaneously monitoring both the helicopter and airplane traffic.

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

Those jobs are typically handled in between 2 individuals from 10am up until 9:30 pm, according to the report.

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

At the time of the accident, 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 tasks are normally combined and delegated someone as the airport sees less traffic later in the night.

A manager reportedly decided to integrate those responsibilities before the set up 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 been understaffed for many years, with just 19 fully licensed controllers as of September 2023 – well listed below the target of 30 – according to the most recent Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan submitted to Congress.

The circumstance appeared to have improved considering that then, as a source informed 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.

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In order to fill the gaps, controllers are often asked to work 10-hour days, six 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 situation recommendation asking for the FAA take immediate action, before the completion of the NTSB examination is unusual.’

The 2 airplane had actually collided in a substantial fireball that was visible 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 passenger aircraft crashed-landed upside down in disorderly scenes at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada.

Miraculously, everybody on board endured after being suspended upside-down by their seatbelts for a number of minutes till they tentatively began leaving.

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

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

And the aircraft carnage is continuous – on Sunday, yet another jet crash-landed, this time in a parking lot of a rural Pennsylvania retirement community.

Dramatic footage revealed the A36TC appear in flames in the parking lot of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five individuals were hurried to health center.

Medics, ambulances, and emergency situation lorries rushed to the scene in Lancaster County as flames swallowed up the airplane and neighboring cars.

The aircraft took off as arranged on Sunday afternoon, but rapidly requested to land back on the tarmac since its door had actually opened.

American Airlines