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

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

The National Transportation Safety Board gave an upgrade on their examination into the cause of the catastrophe which happened on January 29 in Washington.

An American Airlines jetliner and a Black Hawk military helicopter clashed in midair over the Potomac River, eliminating everyone on board both aircrafts.

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

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

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

When cops, medical or presidential transport helicopters need to use the area civilian planes are stopped from remaining in the exact same area.

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

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

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

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

It was uncovered that 15,214 ‘near-miss events’ of aircrafts getting signals 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 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 details any time to figure out that we have a pattern here and a problem here, and looked at that path; that didn’t occur, which is why we’re doing something about it today. But regrettably, individuals lost lives, and liked ones are grieving.’

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

Duffy stated: ‘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 “hi, this is a location, we are having near misses and if we don’t alter our methods we are gon na lose lives”.’

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

Duffy would later added when questioned by a 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 clashed with an Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday night, killing 67 individuals

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

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

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

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

The helicopter pilots may have likewise missed out on part of another interaction, when the tower said the jet was turning towards a various 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 said.

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

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

At the time of the accident, a single air traffic controller was simultaneously monitoring both the helicopter and plane traffic.

Those jobs are typically dealt with in between two people from 10am till 9:30 pm, according to an early FAA report seen by The New york city Times.

Those jobs are typically dealt with between two individuals from 10am till 9:30 pm, according to the report.

Surveillance video footage drawn from inside the airport recorded the moment the 2 collided in midair

At the time of the crash, a single air traffic controller was at the same time monitoring both the helicopter and plane traffic. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is seen here

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

A manager apparently decided to combine those duties before the set up cutoff time nevertheless, and enabled 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 actually been understaffed for lots of years, with just 19 fully accredited controllers as of September 2023 – well below the target of 30 – according to the most recent Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan submitted to Congress.

The situation appeared to have improved 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 absolutely nothing new, with popular causes including high turnover and spending plan cuts.

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In order to fill the gaps, controllers are frequently 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 said: ‘This NTSB action is extremely uncommon. The release of an emergency recommendation asking for the FAA take immediate action, before the completion of the NTSB investigation is unusual.’

The 2 airplane had actually clashed in a substantial fireball that was visible on dashcams of cars 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 disorderly scenes at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada.

Miraculously, everyone on board made it through after being suspended upside-down by their seatbelts for a number of minutes till they tentatively started evacuating.

The aircraft had actually been heading to Toronto from Minneapolis – Saint Paul International Airport with 76 travelers and four crew members on board.

Some 21 people were required to the medical facility for treatment to small injuries, and Delta has actually offered everyone a no-strings $30,000 payout in compensation.

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

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

Medics, ambulances, and emergency situation vehicles rushed to the scene in Lancaster County as flames swallowed up the plane and close-by vehicles.

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

American Airlines