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

Federal investigators have raised issues of a capacity for another lethal airplane crash at Reagan National Airport, after a midair accident earlier this year eliminated 67.

The National Transportation Safety Board gave an update on their examination into the cause of the disaster which took place on January 29 in Washington.

An American Airlines jetliner and a Black Hawk military in midair over the Potomac River, eliminating everyone on board both aircrafts.

As part of a preliminary report released on Tuesday, detectives raised issues of more crashes involving helicopters at the airport.

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

Her issues revolve around Transport Secretary Sean Duffy transferring to restrict helicopter traffic around the area, but that is set to cease at the end of the month.

When police, medical or governmental transport helicopters should utilize the area civilian planes are stopped from remaining in the exact same location.

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

Emergency units 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 to reporters about the 29 January mid-air collision

It was also revealed on Tuesday that there was cautioning check 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 uncovered that 15,214 ‘near-miss events’ of aircrafts getting signals about helicopters being in close proximity in between October 2021 and December 2024.

The NTSB likewise stated that there were 85 cases where two aircraft where laterally split 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 utilized that details any time to figure out that we have a trend here and a problem here, and took a look at that path; that didn’t occur, which is why we’re doing something about it today. But sadly, individuals lost lives, and liked ones are grieving.’

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

Duffy said: ‘I think the concern is when this information is available in how did the FAA not understand. How did they not study the data to say “hi, this is a hot area, we are having near misses and if we do not change our ways we are gon na lose lives”.’

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

Duffy would later added 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 being 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 associated with the crash might have had unreliable altitude readings in the minutes before the crash.

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

On Tuesday American Airlines welcomed the report by the NTSB, saying: ‘We’re grateful for the National Transportation Safety Board’s immediate safety recommendations to limit 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 party member.’

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

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

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

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

Those jobs are generally managed between two people from 10am till 9:30 pm, according to an early FAA report seen by The New york city Times.

Those tasks are typically dealt with between two people from 10am up until 9:30 pm, according to the report.

Surveillance video footage drawn from inside the airport captured the moment the 2 clashed in midair

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

After 9:30 pm the responsibilities are generally combined and left to a single person as the airport sees less traffic later in the night.

A supervisor supposedly chose to combine those tasks before the set up cutoff time however, and enabled 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 actually been understaffed for several years, with simply 19 totally certified 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 improved 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 new, with well-known causes consisting of high turnover and spending plan cuts.

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In order to fill the spaces, 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 ‘unusual’.

She said: ‘This NTSB action is extremely unusual. The release of an emergency situation recommendation asking for the FAA take immediate action, before the completion of the NTSB investigation is uncommon.’

The 2 airplane had collided in a substantial 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 guest aircraft crashed-landed upside down in chaotic scenes at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada.

Miraculously, everyone on board made it through after being suspended upside-down by their seat belts for numerous minutes until they tentatively began leaving.

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

Some 21 individuals were taken to the medical facility for treatment to minor injuries, and Delta has provided each individual a no-strings $30,000 payment 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 revealed the Beechcraft A36TC erupt in flames in the car park of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five individuals were rushed to health center.

Medics, ambulances, and emergency situation vehicles hurried to the scene in Lancaster County as flames engulfed the aircraft and nearby automobiles.

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

American Airlines