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

Federal detectives have raised issues of a capacity for another deadly airplane crash at Reagan National Airport, after a midair crash earlier this year killed 67.

The National Transportation Safety Board provided an update 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 clashed in midair over the Potomac River, eliminating everyone on board both aircrafts.

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

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

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

When authorities, medical or governmental transportation helicopters need to utilize the area civilian airplanes are stopped from remaining in the same location.

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

Emergency systems respond after a passenger 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 accident

It was also revealed on Tuesday that there was cautioning signs in the lead up to the deadly disaster.

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 aircrafts getting informs about helicopters being in close proximity 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 included: ‘That information from October 2021 through December 2024, (the FAA) could have used that information any time to determine that we have a trend here and an issue here, and took a look at that route; that didn’t occur, which is why we’re acting today. But regrettably, individuals lost lives, and loved ones are grieving.’

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

Duffy said: ‘I believe the concern is when this data comes in how did the FAA not understand. How did they not study the data to state “hey, 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 aside from security.’

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 collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday night, killing 67 individuals

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

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

On Tuesday American Airlines invited the report by the NTSB, stating: ‘We’re grateful for the National Transportation Safety Board’s immediate security suggestions to restrict 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 might have also missed out on part of another communication, when the tower stated the jet was turning toward a various runway, Homendy stated 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 said.

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

The Army has stated the Black Hawk team was extremely experienced, and accustomed to the congested skies around the nation ´ s capital.

At the time of the crash, a single air traffic controller was at the same time keeping track of both the helicopter and plane traffic.

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

Those tasks are normally managed in between 2 individuals from 10am until 9:30 pm, according to the report.

Surveillance footage taken from inside the airport recorded the moment the 2 clashed in midair

At the time of the accident, a single air traffic controller was all at once keeping an eye on both the helicopter and aircraft traffic. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is seen here

After 9:30 pm the responsibilities are usually combined and left to one individual as the airport sees less traffic later on in the night.

A manager supposedly decided to combine those tasks before the scheduled cutoff time however, and permitted one air traffic controller to leave work early.

The FAA report stated 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 licensed 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 circumstance appeared to have 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 widely known causes including high turnover and budget cuts.

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In order to fill the gaps, controllers are asked to work 10-hour days, six days a week.

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

She stated: ‘This NTSB action is highly unusual. The release of an emergency recommendation requesting the FAA take immediate action, before the completion of the NTSB investigation is uncommon.’

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

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

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

The airplane had been heading to Toronto from Minneapolis – Saint Paul International Airport with 76 guests and four team members on board.

Some 21 people were taken to the health center for treatment to minor injuries, and Delta has actually provided each person a no-strings $30,000 payment in compensation.

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

Dramatic footage revealed the Beechcraft A36TC erupt in flames in the car park of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five people were hurried to medical facility.

Medics, ambulances, and emergency automobiles hurried to the scene in Lancaster County as flames swallowed up the airplane and close-by cars.

The airplane took off as arranged on Sunday afternoon, however rapidly asked for to land back on the tarmac since its door had opened.

American Airlines