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

Federal investigators have raised concerns of a capacity for another fatal plane crash at Reagan National Airport, after a midair collision previously this year eliminated 67.

The National Transportation Safety Board offered an upgrade on their examination into the reason for the disaster which happened on January 29 in Washington.

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

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

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

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

When police, medical or presidential transport helicopters need to utilize the space civilian planes are stopped from being in the same location.

Homendy said the NTSB is now suggesting that the FAA discover a ‘irreversible service’ for detours for helicopters when 2 of the airport’s runways are in usage.

Emergency units react after a passenger aircraft 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 with press reporters about the 29 January mid-air collision

It was also revealed on Tuesday that there was warning check in the lead up to the lethal disaster.

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

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

The NTSB likewise said 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 included: ‘That data from October 2021 through December 2024, (the FAA) could have utilized that information any time to figure out that we have a pattern here and a problem here, and looked at that route; that didn’t occur, which is why we’re taking action today. But sadly, individuals lost lives, and enjoyed ones are grieving.’

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

Duffy stated: ‘I believe the concern is when this information comes in how did the FAA not understand. How did they not study the information to state « hey, this is a hot spot, 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, possibly there was a focus on something besides safety.’

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

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

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Investigators believe that the helicopter involved in the crash may have had unreliable elevation readings in the minutes before the crash.

The collision likely happened at an altitude simply under 300 feet, as the airplane came down 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 safety recommendations to restrict helicopter traffic near DCA and for its comprehensive investigation.

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

The helicopter pilots might have also missed out on part of another communication, when the tower stated the jet was turning toward 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 safety glasses, Homendy stated.

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

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

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

Those tasks are usually managed in between 2 people from 10am until 9:30 pm, according to an early FAA report seen by The New York Times.

Those jobs are usually 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 collision, a single air traffic controller was all at once monitoring both the helicopter and aircraft traffic. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is seen here

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

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

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

Reagan National has actually been understaffed for lots of years, with simply 19 totally certified controllers since September 2023 – well listed below the target of 30 – according to the most current Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan sent to Congress.

The situation appeared to have actually 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 service towers is nothing brand-new, with well-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, 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 said: ‘This NTSB action is highly uncommon. The release of an emergency suggestion requesting the FAA take immediate action, before the completion of the NTSB investigation is rare.’

The two airplane had collided in a big 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 aircraft crashed-landed upside down in chaotic scenes at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada.

Miraculously, everybody on board made it through after being suspended upside-down by their seat belts for numerous minutes up until they tentatively started evacuating.

The plane had actually been heading to Toronto from Minneapolis – Saint Paul International Airport with 76 travelers and 4 team members on board.

Some 21 individuals were required to the health center for treatment to small injuries, and Delta has actually used each individual a no-strings $30,000 payout in payment.

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

Dramatic video showed the Beechcraft A36TC emerge in flames in the car park of in Manheim Township. Five individuals were hurried to medical facility.

Medics, ambulances, and emergency vehicles hurried to the scene in Lancaster County as flames engulfed the plane and neighboring cars.

The aircraft 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