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

Federal private investigators have raised concerns of a potential for another fatal aircraft crash at Reagan National Airport, after a midair accident previously this year eliminated 67.

The National Transportation Safety Board provided 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 everybody on board both aircrafts.

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

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

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

When authorities, medical or presidential transport helicopters need to use the space civilian aircrafts are stopped from remaining in the same area.

Homendy stated the NTSB is now suggesting that the FAA discover a ‘irreversible option’ for alternate paths for helicopters when 2 of the airport’s runways remain in use.

Emergency units respond after a passenger 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 press 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 lethal disaster.

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

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

The NTSB also said that there were 85 cases where 2 aircraft where laterally split 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) might have used that details any time to figure out 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 acting today. But unfortunately, individuals lost lives, and loved ones are grieving.’

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy slammed 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 understand. How did they not study the information to say “hi, this is a location, we are having near misses and if we do not alter our ways we are gon na lose lives”.’

He included: ‘That wasn’t done, possibly there was a focus on something besides safety.’

Duffy would later on 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 being in the Potomac River after Flight 5342 clashed with an Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday night, killing 67 people

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

The collision likely took place at an elevation just under 300 feet, as the plane came down toward the chopper, which was above its 200-foot limitation for that area.

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

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

The helicopter pilots might have likewise missed out on part of another interaction, when the tower stated 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 an annual test and a test on utilizing night vision safety glasses, Homendy stated.

Investigators believe the crew was wearing night vision safety glasses throughout the flight.

The Army has said the Black Hawk team was highly experienced, and accustomed to the crowded skies around the nation ´ 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 generally managed between 2 individuals from 10am up until 9:30 pm, according to an early FAA report seen by The New york city Times.

Those jobs are usually handled in between two individuals from 10am until 9:30 pm, according to the report.

Surveillance video taken from inside the airport recorded the minute the 2 clashed in midair

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

After 9:30 pm the tasks are normally integrated and left to one person as the airport sees less traffic later in the night.

A manager apparently decided to integrate those responsibilities before the scheduled cutoff time however, and enabled 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 been understaffed for many years, with just 19 completely accredited controllers as of September 2023 – well listed below the target of 30 – according to the most recent Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan sent to .

The scenario appeared to have improved considering that 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 brand-new, with well-known causes including high turnover and spending plan cuts.

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In order to fill the spaces, controllers are regularly 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 requesting the FAA take immediate action, before the conclusion of the NTSB examination is unusual.’

The 2 aircraft had collided in a substantial fireball that was noticeable 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 guest aircraft crashed-landed upside down in disorderly scenes at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada.

Miraculously, everybody on board survived after being suspended upside-down by their seatbelts for several 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 required to the hospital for treatment to minor injuries, and Delta has actually offered everyone a no-strings $30,000 payout in settlement.

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

Dramatic footage showed 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 situation lorries hurried to the scene in Lancaster County as flames swallowed up the plane and nearby cars.

The plane took off as scheduled on Sunday afternoon, but quickly asked for to land back on the tarmac since its door had opened.

American Airlines