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

Federal detectives have raised concerns of a potential for another deadly airplane crash at Reagan National Airport, after a midair crash previously this year eliminated 67.

The National Transportation Safety Board provided an upgrade on their investigation into the reason for the disaster which took place on January 29 in Washington.

An American Airlines jetliner and a Black Hawk military helicopter collided in midair over the Potomac River, eliminating everybody on board both airplanes.

As part of a preliminary report released on Tuesday, private investigators raised concerns of more collisions 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 concerns revolve around Transport Secretary Sean Duffy moving to restrict helicopter traffic around the area, however that is set to cease at the end of the month.

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

Homendy said the NTSB is now advising that the FAA discover a ‘permanent solution’ for detours for when 2 of the airport’s runways are in use.

Emergency systems respond after a guest airplane hit 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 crash

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

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

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

The NTSB likewise 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 information any time to determine that we have a pattern here and an issue here, and took a look at that route; that didn’t occur, which is why we’re taking action today. But unfortunately, 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 believe the question is when this information 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 do not change our methods we are gon na lose lives”.’

He included: ‘That wasn’t done, maybe there was a concentrate on something aside from 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 collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday night, eliminating 67 people

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Investigators believe that the helicopter included in the crash might have had incorrect elevation readings in the minutes before the crash.

The accident most likely happened at an altitude simply under 300 feet, as the plane descended towards the chopper, which was above its 200-foot limitation for that location.

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

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

The helicopter pilots may have also missed out on part of another interaction, when the tower said the jet was turning toward a different runway, Homendy stated last month.

The helicopter was on a ‘check’ flight that night where the pilot was going through a yearly test and a test on utilizing night vision goggles, Homendy stated.

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

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

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

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

Those jobs are typically managed between two individuals from 10am up until 9:30 pm, according to the report.

Surveillance video taken from inside the airport captured the minute the two collided in midair

At the time of the accident, 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 tasks are usually integrated and delegated one person as the airport sees less traffic later on in the night.

A manager supposedly decided to integrate those responsibilities before the arranged cutoff time however, and allowed 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 numerous years, with just 19 totally licensed controllers since September 2023 – well listed below the target of 30 – according to the most recent Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan submitted to Congress.

The situation appeared to have actually 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 towers is absolutely nothing new, with widely known causes including 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, previous Inspector General of the US Department of Transportation Mary Schiavo deemed the findings as ‘unusual’.

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

The two airplane had clashed in a substantial fireball that was noticeable 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 airplane 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 several minutes up until they tentatively started leaving.

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

Some 21 individuals were required to the hospital for treatment to small injuries, and Delta has actually used everyone a no-strings $30,000 payment in payment.

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

Dramatic footage revealed the Beechcraft A36TC emerge in flames in the parking lot of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five people were hurried to medical facility.

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

The airplane took off as scheduled on Sunday afternoon, however quickly requested to land back on the tarmac due to the fact that its door had actually opened.

American Airlines