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 eliminated 67.

The National Transportation Safety Board offered an update on their investigation into the reason for 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 everybody on board both airplanes.

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

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

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

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

Homendy stated the NTSB is now advising that the FAA discover a ‘long-term solution’ for detours for helicopters when 2 of the airport’s runways are in usage.

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

It was also revealed on Tuesday that there was cautioning check in the lead up to the fatal catastrophe.

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

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

The NTSB also stated that there were 85 cases where two 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 info any time to determine that we have a trend here and a problem here, and looked at that path; that didn’t take place, 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 believe the question is when this information is available in how did the FAA not understand. How did they not study the data to state “hi, this is a location, we are having near misses and if we don’t alter our methods we are gon na lose lives”.’

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

Duffy would later added 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, killing 67 people

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Investigators believe that the helicopter included in the crash might have had incorrect elevation readings in the minutes before the crash.

The crash most likely occurred at an altitude just 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 welcomed the report by the NTSB, saying: ‘We’re grateful for the National Transportation Safety Board’s urgent safety suggestions to restrict helicopter traffic near DCA and for its extensive examination.

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

The helicopter pilots might have likewise missed out on part of another interaction, when the tower stated the jet was turning toward a various runway, Homendy stated 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 safety glasses, Homendy said.

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

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

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

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

Those tasks are typically managed between two individuals from 10am until 9:30 pm, according to the report.

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

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

After 9:30 pm the tasks are normally combined and left to one individual as the airport sees less traffic later on in the night.

A supervisor reportedly decided to integrate those tasks before the arranged cutoff time however, and permitted one air traffic controller to leave work early.

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

Reagan National has been understaffed for numerous years, with just 19 completely accredited controllers since September 2023 – well listed below the target of 30 – according to the most recent Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan sent to Congress.

The situation appeared to have actually 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 widely known causes including high turnover and budget cuts.

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

She stated: ‘This NTSB action is highly unusual. The release of an emergency situation suggestion requesting the FAA take immediate action, before the conclusion of the NTSB investigation is unusual.’

The 2 airplane had actually clashed in a huge 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, on February 17, a Delta traveler plane crashed-landed upside down in chaotic scenes at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada.

Miraculously, everybody on board survived after being suspended upside-down by their seat belts 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 travelers and 4 team members on board.

Some 21 people were required to the health center for to minor injuries, and Delta has provided each individual a no-strings $30,000 payment in compensation.

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

Dramatic video showed the Beechcraft A36TC emerge in flames in the parking lot of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five individuals were rushed to hospital.

Medics, ambulances, and emergency situation lorries hurried to the scene in Lancaster County as flames swallowed up the aircraft and nearby vehicles.

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

American Airlines