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

Federal private investigators have raised concerns of a potential for another deadly plane 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 cause of the disaster 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 everyone on board both aircrafts.

As part of an initial report released on Tuesday, private investigators raised concerns of more crashes involving helicopters at the airport.

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

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

When police, medical or presidential transport helicopters must utilize the space civilian aircrafts are stopped from remaining in the very same location.

Homendy stated the NTSB is now suggesting that the FAA find a ‘long-term solution’ for alternate paths for helicopters when 2 of the airport’s runways are in use.

Emergency systems respond after a traveler 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 to reporters about the 29 January mid-air crash

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

The NTSB likewise said that there were 85 cases where two airplane 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) could have utilized that details at any time to determine that we have a trend here and an issue here, and took a look at that path; that didn’t occur, which is why we’re taking action today. But regrettably, people lost lives, and enjoyed ones are grieving.’

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

Duffy stated: ‘I believe the question is when this data is available in how did the FAA not understand. How did they not study the data to state “hi, this is a location, we are having near misses out on 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 besides security.’

Duffy would later included when questioned by a press reporter about the near misses out on that the data 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 individuals

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

The crash likely happened at an altitude just under 300 feet, as the plane descended toward the chopper, which was above its 200-foot limitation for that area.

On Tuesday American Airlines welcomed 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 comprehensive examination.

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

The helicopter pilots might have also missed out on part of another interaction, when the tower said the jet was turning toward a various runway, Homendy stated 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 think the crew was using night vision goggles throughout the flight.

The Army has said the Black Hawk team 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 all at once both the helicopter and airplane traffic.

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

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

Surveillance video drawn from inside the airport caught the minute the 2 clashed in midair

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

After 9:30 pm the responsibilities are typically combined and delegated a single person as the airport sees less traffic later on in the night.

A manager supposedly decided to integrate those tasks before the arranged cutoff time however, and enabled one air traffic controller to leave work early.

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

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

The circumstance appeared to have actually 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 towers is absolutely nothing brand-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, 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 situation suggestion asking for the FAA take immediate action, before the conclusion of the NTSB examination is unusual.’

The 2 airplane had actually collided in a huge fireball that was visible on dashcams of vehicles driving on highways that snake around the airport, before plunging into the river.

Less than a month later on, on February 17, a Delta traveler plane 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 numerous minutes up until they tentatively started evacuating.

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

Some 21 people were taken to the healthcare facility for treatment to small injuries, and Delta has actually used everyone a no-strings $30,000 payout in payment.

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

Dramatic video footage showed the Beechcraft A36TC emerge in flames in the parking area of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five people were rushed to hospital.

Medics, ambulances, and emergency situation vehicles rushed to the scene in Lancaster County as flames engulfed the airplane and neighboring cars.

The airplane took off as arranged on Sunday afternoon, but quickly requested to land back on the tarmac since its door had opened.

American Airlines