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 crash earlier this year 67.

The National Transportation Safety Board gave an update on their examination 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, killing everybody on board both airplanes.

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

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

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

When cops, medical or governmental transportation helicopters must use the area civilian planes are stopped from remaining in the same area.

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

Emergency units react after a traveler airplane 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 speaks with reporters about the 29 January mid-air accident

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

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

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

The NTSB likewise said that there were 85 cases where 2 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 utilized that details any time to determine that we have a trend here and an issue here, and took a look at that path; that didn’t happen, which is why we’re acting today. But regrettably, individuals lost lives, and enjoyed 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 is available in how did the FAA not know. How did they not study the data to state “hey, this is a location, we are having near misses and if we don’t change our methods we are gon na lose lives”.’

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

Duffy would later on included when questioned by a press reporter about the near misses that the information 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, killing 67 people

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Investigators believe that the helicopter associated with the crash may have had incorrect elevation readings in the minutes before the crash.

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

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

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

The helicopter pilots may have also missed part of another communication, when the tower said the jet was turning towards 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 said.

Investigators believe the team was using night vision goggles throughout the flight.

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

At the time of the collision, a single air traffic controller was all at once keeping an eye on both the helicopter and plane traffic.

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

Those tasks are usually dealt with in between 2 individuals from 10am till 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 crash, a single air traffic controller was concurrently monitoring both the helicopter and airplane traffic. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is seen here

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

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

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

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

The scenario appeared to have enhanced 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 service towers is absolutely nothing new, with widely known causes consisting of high turnover and budget plan cuts.

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In order to fill the spaces, controllers are often asked to work 10-hour days, 6 days a week.

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

She stated: ‘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 two aircraft had actually collided in a big fireball that was visible on dashcams of cars and trucks driving on highways that snake around the airport, before plunging into the river.

Less than a month later, 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 survived after being suspended upside-down by their seatbelts for a number of minutes till they tentatively started evacuating.

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

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

And the airplane carnage is continuous – 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 appear in flames in the car park of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five individuals were rushed to healthcare facility.

Medics, ambulances, and emergency situation vehicles hurried to the scene in Lancaster County as flames engulfed the airplane and close-by cars.

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

American Airlines