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

Federal investigators have raised issues of a capacity for another deadly aircraft crash at Reagan National Airport, after a midair accident previously this year eliminated 67.

The National Transportation Safety Board offered an update on their examination into the cause of the disaster 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 airplanes.

As part of an initial report launched on Tuesday, detectives raised issues of more accidents including helicopters at the .

NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy stated: ‘We stay concerned about the considerable capacity 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 authorities, medical or governmental transportation helicopters should utilize the space civilian aircrafts are stopped from remaining in the exact same area.

Homendy said the NTSB is now suggesting that the FAA discover a ‘permanent solution’ for alternate routes for helicopters when two of the airport’s runways remain in usage.

Emergency units react after a traveler 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 to reporters about the 29 January mid-air crash

It was likewise revealed on Tuesday that there was warning signs in the lead up to the deadly 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 informs about helicopters being in close proximity 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 data from October 2021 through December 2024, (the FAA) could have utilized that details whenever to identify that we have a trend here and an issue here, and looked at that path; that didn’t take place, which is why we’re taking action today. But sadly, people lost lives, and enjoyed ones are grieving.’

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

Duffy stated: ‘I believe the concern is when this information is available in how did the FAA not know. How did they not study the information to say « hi, this is a hot area, we are having near misses out on and if we do not change our ways we are gon na lose lives ».’

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

Duffy would later included 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 collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday night, killing 67 people

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Investigators think that the helicopter involved in the crash might have had inaccurate elevation readings in the minutes before the crash.

The crash likely took place at an elevation just under 300 feet, as the aircraft came down toward the chopper, which was above its 200-foot limit for that location.

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

‘We will continue to coordinate closely with PSA Airlines as it works together as an investigative party member.’

The helicopter pilots might 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 using night vision goggles, Homendy stated.

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

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

At the time of the collision, a single air traffic controller was all at once keeping an eye on both the helicopter and airplane traffic.

Those tasks are generally dealt with between 2 individuals from 10am up until 9:30 pm, according to an early FAA report seen by The New york city Times.

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

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

At the time of the collision, 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 usually integrated and left to someone as the airport sees less traffic later in the night.

A supervisor reportedly decided to combine those tasks before the set up cutoff time nevertheless, and permitted one air traffic controller to leave work early.

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

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

The circumstance 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 nothing new, with well-known 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, six days a week.

After the release of the report, previous Inspector General of the US Department of Transportation Mary Schiavo deemed the findings as ‘uncommon’.

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

The 2 airplane had actually clashed in a big fireball that was noticeable 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 traveler plane 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 a number of minutes till they tentatively started leaving.

The aircraft 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 required to the hospital for treatment to small injuries, and Delta has provided everyone a no-strings $30,000 payment in payment.

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

Dramatic video footage showed the Beechcraft A36TC emerge in flames in the parking area of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five people were hurried to hospital.

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

The airplane took off as set up on Sunday afternoon, but rapidly requested to land back on the tarmac because its door had actually opened.

American Airlines