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

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

The National Transportation Safety Board provided an update on their investigation into the reason for 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 everyone on board both airplanes.

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

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

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

When authorities, medical or governmental transport helicopters should utilize the space civilian planes are stopped from being in the same area.

Homendy said the NTSB is now recommending that the FAA discover a ‘permanent option’ for alternate routes for helicopters when two of the airport’s runways remain in use.

Emergency systems react 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 to press reporters about the 29 January mid-air collision

It was likewise revealed on Tuesday that there was warning check in the lead up to the lethal disaster.

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

It was discovered that 15,214 ‘near-miss occasions’ of planes 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 2 aircraft where laterally divided by less than 1,500 feet, and a vertical separation of less than 200 feet.

Homendy included: ‘That data from October 2021 through December 2024, (the FAA) might have used that details whenever to figure out 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 taking action today. But unfortunately, individuals lost lives, and liked 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 information comes in how did the FAA not know. How did they not study the information to state “hi, this is a hot area, 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, possibly there was a focus on something aside from security.’

Duffy would later added when questioned by a reporter about the near misses that the information 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, eliminating 67 individuals

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

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

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

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

The helicopter pilots might have also missed out on 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 going through an annual test and a test on utilizing night vision goggles, Homendy stated.

Investigators believe the team was wearing 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 country ´ s capital.

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

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

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

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

At the time of the accident, a single air was at the same time monitoring both the helicopter and airplane traffic. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is seen here

After 9:30 pm the duties are usually integrated and left to someone as the airport sees less traffic later in the night.

A manager reportedly decided to integrate those duties before the set up cutoff time however, and enabled one air traffic controller to leave work early.

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

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

The scenario appeared to have actually enhanced since then, 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 nothing brand-new, with well-known causes including high turnover and budget plan cuts.

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In order to fill the gaps, controllers are frequently 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 highly unusual. The release of an emergency situation suggestion asking for the FAA take immediate action, before the completion of the NTSB examination is uncommon.’

The 2 airplane had clashed in a big fireball that showed up on dashcams of automobiles driving on highways that snake around the airport, before plunging into the river.

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

Miraculously, everybody on board endured after being suspended upside-down by their seat belts for several minutes until they tentatively started leaving.

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

Some 21 people were required to the medical facility for treatment to small injuries, and Delta has actually offered everyone a no-strings $30,000 payout in settlement.

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

Dramatic video revealed the Beechcraft A36TC appear in flames in the car park of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five individuals were rushed to hospital.

Medics, ambulances, and emergency vehicles rushed to the scene in Lancaster County as flames engulfed the plane and nearby lorries.

The plane took off as scheduled on Sunday afternoon, however rapidly requested to land back on the tarmac since its door had actually opened.

American Airlines