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

Federal detectives have actually raised issues of a potential for another deadly plane crash at Airport, after a midair collision previously this year eliminated 67.

The National Transportation Safety Board gave an update on their examination into the reason for the catastrophe which took place on January 29 in Washington.

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

As part of a preliminary report launched on Tuesday, investigators raised issues of more accidents including helicopters at the airport.

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

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

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

Homendy stated the NTSB is now suggesting that the FAA find a ‘long-term solution’ for alternate paths for helicopters when two of the airport’s runways are in usage.

Emergency systems respond after a passenger 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 to reporters about the 29 January mid-air collision

It was also exposed on Tuesday that there was warning check in the lead up to the lethal 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 planes getting alerts about helicopters remaining in close proximity in between October 2021 and December 2024.

The NTSB likewise said 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 included: ‘That data from October 2021 through December 2024, (the FAA) might have used that information whenever to identify that we have a trend here and an issue here, and took a look at that path; that didn’t occur, which is why we’re taking action today. But sadly, individuals lost lives, and liked ones are grieving.’

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

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

He added: ‘That wasn’t done, perhaps there was a concentrate on something besides safety.’

Duffy would later added when questioned by a press reporter about the near misses out on that the data had ‘p *** ed him off’.

Pictured: Parts of the wreckage seen sitting in the Potomac River after Flight 5342 clashed with an Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday night, eliminating 67 people

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

The crash likely happened at an altitude simply under 300 feet, as the airplane came down towards the chopper, which was above its 200-foot limit for that place.

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

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

The helicopter pilots may have also missed out on part of another communication, when the tower stated the jet was turning toward 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 utilizing night vision goggles, Homendy said.

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

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

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

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

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

Surveillance footage taken from inside the airport captured the moment the two collided in midair

At the time of the crash, a single air traffic controller was at the same time keeping track of both the helicopter and aircraft traffic. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is seen here

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

A supervisor reportedly decided to integrate those responsibilities before the arranged cutoff time nevertheless, and allowed 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 actually been understaffed for numerous years, with just 19 completely accredited controllers as of September 2023 – well below the target of 30 – according to the most recent Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan submitted to Congress.

The circumstance appeared to have enhanced ever since, 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 towers is absolutely nothing new, with widely known causes including high turnover and budget plan 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, previous Inspector General of the US Department of Transportation Mary Schiavo considered the findings as ‘uncommon’.

She stated: ‘This NTSB action is highly uncommon. The release of an emergency recommendation requesting the FAA take instant action, before the conclusion of the NTSB examination is unusual.’

The 2 airplane had actually clashed in a substantial fireball that showed up 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, everyone on board endured after being suspended upside-down by their seatbelts for a number of minutes up until they tentatively began evacuating.

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

Some 21 individuals were taken to the hospital for treatment to minor injuries, and Delta has used everyone 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 parking lot of a rural Pennsylvania retirement community.

Dramatic video showed the Beechcraft A36TC appear in flames in the car park of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five people were hurried to health center.

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

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

American Airlines