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

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

The National Transportation Safety Board offered an update on their investigation into the cause of the catastrophe which happened on January 29 in Washington.

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

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

NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said: ‘We remain concerned about the substantial capacity for future mid-air crash at DCA.’

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

When police, medical or presidential transportation helicopters must utilize the area civilian planes are stopped from being in the same location.

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

Emergency units respond 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 talks to reporters about the 29 January mid-air accident

It was likewise revealed on Tuesday that there was cautioning 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 revealed that 15,214 ‘near-miss events’ of aircrafts getting alerts about helicopters being in close proximity in between October 2021 and December 2024.

The NTSB also said that there were 85 cases where 2 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 utilized that info any time to determine that we have a pattern here and an issue here, and took a look at that path; that didn’t occur, which is why we’re doing something about it today. But unfortunately, people lost lives, and loved ones are grieving.’

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

Duffy said: ‘I think the question is when this data is available in how did the FAA not know. How did they not study the information to state “hey, 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 included: ‘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 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, killing 67 individuals

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

The accident likely occurred at an altitude simply under 300 feet, as the aircraft came down towards the chopper, which was above its 200-foot limitation for that place.

On Tuesday American Airlines welcomed the report by the NTSB, stating: ‘We’re grateful for the National Transportation Safety Board’s immediate safety suggestions to restrict helicopter traffic near DCA and for its comprehensive investigation.

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

The helicopter pilots might have likewise missed part of another communication, when the tower stated the jet was turning towards a different runway, Homendy said last month.

The helicopter was on a ‘check’ flight that night where the pilot was undergoing a yearly test and a test on utilizing night vision goggles, Homendy stated.

Investigators believe the team was wearing night vision safety glasses throughout the flight.

The Army has said the Black Hawk crew was highly 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 monitoring both the helicopter and airplane traffic.

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

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

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

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

After 9:30 pm the duties are typically integrated and left to a single person as the airport sees less traffic later on in the night.

A manager apparently chose to integrate those duties before the set up cutoff time nevertheless, and enabled one air traffic controller to leave work early.

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

Reagan National has been understaffed for numerous years, with just 19 completely certified 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 scenario appeared to have actually 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 popular causes including high turnover and spending plan cuts.

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In order to fill the spaces, controllers are regularly 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 considered the findings as ‘uncommon’.

She said: ‘This NTSB action is highly unusual. The release of an emergency situation suggestion the FAA take instant action, before the completion of the NTSB examination is unusual.’

The two aircraft had clashed in a huge fireball that was noticeable on dashcams of cars 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 plane 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 seat belts for a number of minutes up until they tentatively started leaving.

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 required to the medical facility for treatment to small injuries, and Delta has offered each person a no-strings $30,000 payout in payment.

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

Dramatic video revealed the Beechcraft A36TC appear in flames in the car park of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five people were rushed to healthcare facility.

Medics, ambulances, and emergency cars hurried to the scene in Lancaster County as flames engulfed the plane and neighboring automobiles.

The aircraft took off as arranged on Sunday afternoon, however quickly asked for to land back on the tarmac because its door had opened.

American Airlines