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

Federal private investigators have actually raised issues of a potential for another fatal plane crash at Reagan National Airport, after a midair crash previously this year eliminated 67.

The National Transportation Safety Board gave an update on their examination into the cause of 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, eliminating everybody on board both aircrafts.

As part of an initial report released on Tuesday, private investigators raised issues of more collisions involving helicopters at the airport.

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

Her concerns focus on Transport Secretary Sean Duffy relocating to restrict helicopter traffic around the area, but that is set to cease at the end of the month.

When cops, medical or governmental transport helicopters need to use the area civilian airplanes are stopped from remaining in the same location.

Homendy stated the NTSB is now advising that the FAA find a ‘irreversible option’ for detours for helicopters when 2 of the airport’s runways remain in usage.

Emergency units react 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 reporters about the 29 January mid-air crash

It was likewise exposed on Tuesday that there was warning indications in the lead up to the fatal catastrophe.

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

It was revealed 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 divided by less than 1,500 feet, and a vertical separation of less than 200 feet.

Homendy included: ‘That information from October 2021 through December 2024, (the FAA) might have utilized that info any time to determine that we have a trend here and a problem here, and took a look at that path; that didn’t occur, which is why we’re taking action today. But unfortunately, individuals lost lives, and enjoyed 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 comes in how did the FAA not understand. How did they not study the information to state “hello, this is a location, we are having near misses and if we do not change our ways we are gon na lose lives”.’

He included: ‘That wasn’t done, perhaps there was a focus on something aside from security.’

Duffy would later added when questioned by a press reporter about the near misses that the data 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 individuals

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

The collision most likely occurred at an elevation simply under 300 feet, as the airplane descended toward 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 immediate security recommendations to restrict helicopter traffic near DCA and for its extensive investigation.

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

The helicopter pilots may have likewise missed out on part of another interaction, 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 an annual test and a test on utilizing night vision goggles, Homendy said.

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

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

At the time of the crash, a single air traffic controller was all at once monitoring both the helicopter and airplane traffic.

Those jobs 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 city Times.

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

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

At the time of the crash, a single air traffic controller was concurrently keeping an eye on both the helicopter and plane traffic. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is seen here

After 9:30 pm the duties are typically integrated and delegated one person as the airport sees less traffic later on in the night.

A supervisor reportedly chose to integrate those duties before the arranged cutoff time however, and allowed one air traffic controller to leave work early.

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

Reagan National has been understaffed for several years, with just 19 fully 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 scenario appeared to have improved given 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 towers is absolutely nothing brand-new, with widely known causes consisting of high turnover and budget 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, previous Inspector General of the US Department of Transportation Mary Schiavo considered the findings as ‘unusual’.

She said: ‘This NTSB action is extremely unusual. The release of an emergency recommendation asking for the FAA take immediate action, before the completion of the NTSB investigation is unusual.’

The two aircraft had clashed in a huge fireball that showed up on dashcams of cars and trucks 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 chaotic scenes at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada.

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

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

Some 21 people were taken to the healthcare facility for treatment to small injuries, and Delta has actually offered everyone a no-strings $30,000 payment in payment.

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

Dramatic video footage 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 vehicles rushed to the scene in Lancaster County as flames engulfed the aircraft and nearby automobiles.

The plane took off as set up on Sunday afternoon, but quickly to land back on the tarmac since its door had opened.

American Airlines