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

Federal detectives have raised issues of a potential for another deadly plane crash at Reagan National Airport, after a midair accident previously this year killed 67.

The National Transportation Safety Board offered an upgrade on their investigation 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 everyone on board both airplanes.

As part of a preliminary report launched on Tuesday, private investigators raised issues of more crashes including helicopters at the airport.

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

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

When cops, medical or presidential transport helicopters need to utilize the space civilian airplanes are stopped from being in the very same area.

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

Emergency units react after a guest airplane 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 talks 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 fatal catastrophe.

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

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

The NTSB also stated that there were 85 cases where 2 airplane where laterally divided 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) could have used that info at any time to determine that we have a pattern here and a problem here, and took a look at that route; that didn’t happen, which is why we’re acting today. But unfortunately, individuals lost lives, and enjoyed ones are grieving.’

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

Duffy said: ‘I think the concern is when this data can be found in how did the FAA not understand. How did they not study the data to say “hi, this is a hot spot, we are having near misses and if we don’t alter our ways we are gon na lose lives”.’

He included: ‘That wasn’t done, possibly there was a concentrate on something other than security.’

Duffy would later added 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 sitting in the Potomac River after Flight 5342 hit an Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday night, eliminating 67 people

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Investigators think that the helicopter included in the crash may have had unreliable altitude readings in the minutes before the crash.

The collision most likely occurred at an elevation just under 300 feet, as the aircraft came down towards the chopper, which was above its 200-foot limit for that area.

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

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

The helicopter pilots might have also missed out on part of another interaction, when the tower said the jet was turning toward a various runway, Homendy said last month.

The helicopter was on a ‘check’ flight that night where the pilot was undergoing a yearly test and a test on using night vision safety glasses, Homendy said.

think the team was using night vision safety glasses 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 accident, a single air traffic controller was at the same time keeping track of both the helicopter and airplane traffic.

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

Those tasks are normally handled between two people from 10am until 9:30 pm, according to the report.

Surveillance video taken from inside the airport captured the minute the two clashed in midair

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. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is seen here

After 9:30 pm the responsibilities are typically integrated and left to a single person as the airport sees less traffic later on in the night.

A manager reportedly chose to integrate those duties before the set up cutoff time nevertheless, and allowed one air traffic controller to leave work early.

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

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

The situation 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 service towers is nothing new, with well-known causes consisting of high turnover and budget 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 ‘unusual’.

She said: ‘This NTSB action is highly uncommon. The release of an emergency situation suggestion asking for the FAA take instant action, before the conclusion of the NTSB investigation is rare.’

The two aircraft had collided in a big fireball that was noticeable on dashcams of cars driving on highways that snake around the airport, before plunging into the river.

Less than a month later on, on February 17, a Delta guest airplane crashed-landed upside down in disorderly scenes at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada.

Miraculously, everybody on board endured after being suspended upside-down by their seat belts for a number of minutes till they tentatively began evacuating.

The aircraft 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 taken to the health center for treatment to small injuries, and Delta has offered everyone a no-strings $30,000 payout in settlement.

And the aircraft carnage is continuous – 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 parking area of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five people were rushed to hospital.

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

The aircraft took off as scheduled on Sunday afternoon, however quickly requested to land back on the tarmac since its door had opened.

American Airlines