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

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

The National Transportation Safety Board gave an update on their examination into the cause of the disaster which occurred 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 aircrafts.

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

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

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

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

Homendy said the NTSB is now recommending that the FAA discover a ‘permanent solution’ for detours for helicopters when two of the airport’s runways are in use.

Emergency systems respond after a guest 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 accident

It was also exposed on Tuesday that there was cautioning check in the lead up to the lethal catastrophe.

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

It was discovered that 15,214 ‘near-miss events’ of planes getting informs about helicopters remaining in close distance between October 2021 and December 2024.

The NTSB also stated 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 added: ‘That data from October 2021 through December 2024, (the FAA) might have used that information whenever to determine that we have a pattern here and a problem here, and took a look at that path; that didn’t take place, which is why we’re doing something about it today. But regrettably, individuals lost lives, and loved ones are grieving.’

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

Duffy said: ‘I think the question is when this data is available in how did the FAA not know. How did they not study the information to state « hey, this is a location, we are having near misses out on and if we don’t 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 press 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 hit an Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday night, killing 67 people

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

The collision likely took place at an altitude simply under 300 feet, as the airplane descended towards the chopper, which was above its 200-foot limitation 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 safety suggestions to restrict helicopter traffic near DCA and for its thorough investigation.

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

The helicopter pilots may have likewise missed out on part of another communication, when the tower stated 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 going through a yearly test and a test on using night vision safety glasses, Homendy stated.

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

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

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

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

Those jobs are typically handled in between two people from 10am till 9:30 pm, according to the report.

Surveillance video footage drawn from inside the airport captured the moment the 2 clashed in midair

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

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

A manager apparently chose to combine those duties before the set up cutoff time nevertheless, and enabled one air traffic controller to leave work early.

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

Reagan National has actually been understaffed for many years, with just 19 completely licensed controllers as of September 2023 – well listed below the target of 30 – according to the most recent Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan sent to Congress.

The situation appeared to have actually improved ever since, 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 absolutely nothing new, with popular causes including high turnover and budget cuts.

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In order to fill the gaps, controllers are regularly 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 extremely unusual. The release of an emergency situation recommendation asking for the FAA take instant action, before the completion of the NTSB examination is rare.’

The 2 aircraft had collided in a big fireball that showed up 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 guest aircraft crashed-landed upside down in disorderly 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 a number of minutes until they tentatively began evacuating.

The aircraft had been heading to Toronto from Minneapolis – Saint Paul International Airport with 76 guests and 4 crew members on board.

Some 21 people were to the health center for treatment to small injuries, and Delta has actually offered each individual 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 lot of a suburban Pennsylvania retirement community.

Dramatic video showed the Beechcraft A36TC erupt in flames in the parking area of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five individuals were hurried to hospital.

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

The aircraft took off as scheduled on Sunday afternoon, but quickly asked for to land back on the tarmac due to the fact that its door had actually opened.

American Airlines