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

Federal private investigators have raised concerns of a capacity for another deadly plane crash at Reagan National Airport, after a midair accident earlier this year eliminated 67.

The National Transportation Safety Board provided an update on their investigation into the reason for the disaster which happened 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 an initial report launched on Tuesday, private investigators raised issues of more accidents including 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 revolve around Transport Secretary Sean Duffy moving to restrict helicopter traffic around the location, however that is set to cease at the end of the month.

When police, medical or governmental transportation helicopters must use the area civilian airplanes are stopped from being in the exact same area.

Homendy stated the NTSB is now suggesting that the FAA find a 'long-term service' for alternate routes for helicopters when two of the airport's runways are in use.

Emergency systems react after a traveler airplane 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 reporters about the 29 January mid-air crash

It was likewise revealed on Tuesday that there was alerting signs in the lead up to the lethal catastrophe.

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 airplanes getting signals about helicopters remaining in close proximity between October 2021 and December 2024.

The NTSB likewise stated that there were 85 cases where two 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) could 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 route; that didn't occur, which is why we're taking action today. But regrettably, people lost lives, and loved ones are grieving.'

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

Duffy stated: 'I think the concern is when this data comes in how did the FAA not understand. How did they not study the data to say "hello, this is a location, we are having near misses out on and if we don't alter our ways we are gon na lose lives".'

He included: 'That wasn't done, maybe there was a focus on something aside from safety.'

Duffy would later 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 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 may have had unreliable altitude readings in the minutes before the crash.

The collision likely happened at an altitude simply under 300 feet, as the airplane descended towards the chopper, which was above its 200-foot limit for that place.

On Tuesday American Airlines invited the report by the NTSB, stating: 'We're grateful for the National Transportation Safety Board's immediate security suggestions to restrict helicopter traffic near DCA and for its extensive examination.

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

The helicopter pilots may have likewise missed part of another interaction, when the tower stated the jet was turning towards a various runway, Homendy stated 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 safety glasses, Homendy stated.

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

The Army has stated 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 keeping an eye on both the helicopter and aircraft traffic.

Those tasks are normally dealt with in 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 normally handled in between 2 individuals from 10am up until 9:30 pm, according to the report.

Surveillance video taken from inside the airport recorded the minute the 2 collided in midair

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

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

A supervisor reportedly decided to integrate those duties before the scheduled cutoff time nevertheless, and allowed one air traffic controller to leave work early.

The FAA report stated that staffing setup '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 certified controllers as of September 2023 - well below the target of 30 - according to the most recent Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan submitted to Congress.

The circumstance appeared to have improved because 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 absolutely nothing brand-new, with widely 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, 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 'unusual'.

She said: 'This NTSB action is highly uncommon. The release of an emergency situation suggestion requesting the FAA take immediate action, before the conclusion of the NTSB investigation is unusual.'

The 2 aircraft had actually collided in a substantial 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, on February 17, a Delta passenger plane crashed-landed upside down in disorderly 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 a number of minutes until they tentatively started evacuating.

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

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

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

Dramatic video footage showed the Beechcraft A36TC emerge in flames in the parking area of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five individuals were hurried to health center.

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