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

Federal detectives 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 provided an upgrade 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 collided in midair over the Potomac River, killing everybody on board both airplanes.

As part of an initial report released on Tuesday, detectives raised issues of more accidents involving helicopters at the airport.

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

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

When police, medical or presidential transportation helicopters must utilize the space civilian airplanes are stopped from remaining in the very same area.

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

Emergency units respond after a guest 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 speaks to reporters about the 29 January mid-air collision

It was also exposed on Tuesday that there was alerting 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 uncovered that 15,214 ‘near-miss events’ of planes getting informs about helicopters remaining in close proximity between October 2021 and December 2024.

The NTSB likewise stated 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 added: ‘That data from October 2021 through December 2024, (the FAA) could have utilized that info whenever to figure out that we have a pattern here and an issue here, and looked at that route; that didn’t occur, which is why we’re acting today. But regrettably, individuals lost lives, and liked ones are grieving.’

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

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

He added: ‘That wasn’t done, possibly there was a concentrate on something aside from security.’

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 individuals

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

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

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

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

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

The helicopter was on a ‘check’ flight that night where the pilot was going through an annual test and a test on utilizing night vision safety glasses, Homendy stated.

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

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

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

Those jobs are generally handled between 2 individuals from 10am up 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 until 9:30 pm, according to the report.

Surveillance footage taken from inside the airport recorded the minute the two clashed in midair

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

After 9:30 pm the tasks are generally combined and delegated one individual as the airport sees less traffic later in the night.

A manager reportedly chose to integrate those tasks before the scheduled cutoff time however, 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 lots of years, with simply 19 completely licensed controllers as of September 2023 – well listed below the target of 30 – according to the most current Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan sent to Congress.

The scenario appeared to have improved because then, 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 towers is nothing brand-new, with popular 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, 6 days a week.

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

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

The two aircraft had actually collided 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 passenger aircraft crashed-landed upside down in disorderly scenes at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada.

Miraculously, everybody on board survived after being suspended upside-down by their seatbelts for several minutes until they tentatively started 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 medical facility for treatment to small injuries, and Delta has actually provided each individual 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 car park of a suburban Pennsylvania retirement home.

Dramatic footage showed the Beechcraft A36TC erupt in flames in the car park of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five people were rushed to hospital.

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

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

American Airlines