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 crash earlier this year killed 67.

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

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

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

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

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

When police, medical or governmental transport helicopters must utilize the area civilian planes are stopped from being in the very same location.

Homendy said the NTSB is now advising that the FAA find a ‘irreversible solution’ for alternate routes for helicopters when two of the airport’s runways are in usage.

Emergency units respond after a passenger 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 cautioning check in the lead up to the deadly catastrophe.

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 aircrafts getting informs about helicopters remaining in close distance between October 2021 and December 2024.

The NTSB likewise stated that there were 85 cases where 2 airplane where laterally divided by less than 1,500 feet, and a vertical separation of less than 200 feet.

Homendy added: from October 2021 through December 2024, (the FAA) could have used that information whenever to figure out that we have a trend here and a problem here, and took a look at that route; 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 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 know. How did they not study the information to say “hello, this is a location, we are having near misses and if we don’t alter our methods 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 included when questioned by a reporter about the near misses that the data had ‘p *** ed him off’.

Pictured: Parts of the wreckage seen being 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 might have had inaccurate elevation readings in the minutes before the crash.

The collision likely occurred at an elevation just under 300 feet, as the aircraft descended toward the chopper, which was above its 200-foot limitation for that place.

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 comprehensive investigation.

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

The helicopter pilots may have likewise missed 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 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 team was highly experienced, and accustomed to the crowded skies around the nation ´ s capital.

At the time of the crash, a single air traffic controller was all at once monitoring both the helicopter and plane traffic.

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

Those tasks are typically handled between 2 individuals from 10am till 9:30 pm, according to the report.

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

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

After 9:30 pm the duties are normally integrated and delegated one individual as the airport sees less traffic later on in the night.

A supervisor reportedly chose to combine those tasks before the arranged cutoff time however, and enabled 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 lots of years, with simply 19 completely 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 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 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, six 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 said: ‘This NTSB action is extremely unusual. The release of an emergency suggestion requesting the FAA take immediate action, before the conclusion of the NTSB examination is unusual.’

The two airplane had collided in a huge fireball that showed up 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 traveler airplane 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 travelers and 4 team members on board.

Some 21 people were required to the healthcare facility for treatment to minor injuries, and Delta has provided everyone a no-strings $30,000 payment in settlement.

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

Dramatic video showed the Beechcraft A36TC appear in flames in the parking area of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five individuals were hurried to healthcare facility.

Medics, ambulances, and emergency automobiles hurried to the scene in Lancaster County as flames swallowed up the airplane and nearby vehicles.

The aircraft took off as arranged on Sunday afternoon, but rapidly asked for to land back on the tarmac because its door had actually opened.

American Airlines