Crash Warning As Report Into DC Disaster At Reagan Airport Is Released

Federal detectives have raised issues of a capacity for another lethal plane crash at Reagan National Airport, after a midair collision earlier this year killed 67.


The National Transportation Safety Board provided an upgrade on their examination into the reason for the catastrophe 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 everybody on board both airplanes.


As part of an initial report launched on Tuesday, investigators raised concerns of more collisions including helicopters at the airport.


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


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


When police, medical or presidential transport helicopters need to use 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 service' for detours for helicopters when two of the airport's runways are in usage.


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 talks to press reporters about the 29 January mid-air collision


It was likewise exposed on Tuesday that there was alerting check 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 revealed that 15,214 'near-miss occasions' of planes getting signals about helicopters being in close distance in between October 2021 and December 2024.


The NTSB likewise said 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 information from October 2021 through December 2024, (the FAA) might have utilized that information at any time to determine that we have a trend here and a problem here, and took a look at that route; that didn't take place, which is why we're doing something about it today. But unfortunately, 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 question is when this information comes in how did the FAA not know. How did they not study the information to state "hey, this is a location, we are having near misses out on and if we don't change our methods we are gon na lose lives".'


He included: 'That wasn't done, possibly there was a focus on something other than safety.'


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


Your browser does not support iframes.


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


The crash likely occurred at an elevation simply under 300 feet, as the plane came down 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 urgent safety recommendations to limit helicopter traffic near DCA and for its comprehensive examination.


'We will to collaborate carefully with PSA Airlines as it works together as an investigative party member.'


The helicopter pilots might have also missed out on part of another communication, when the tower said the jet was turning toward a different 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 using night vision goggles, Homendy stated.


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


The Army has said the Black Hawk crew was highly experienced, and accustomed to the crowded skies around the country ´ s capital.


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


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


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


Surveillance video taken from inside the airport captured the minute the 2 collided 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 airplane traffic. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is seen here


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


A manager reportedly decided to combine those tasks before the scheduled cutoff time however, and permitted 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 been understaffed for many years, with simply 19 completely licensed 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 scenario appeared to have enhanced because 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 service towers is nothing new, with popular causes consisting of high turnover and budget plan cuts.


EXCLUSIVE


Full list of DC airplane crash victims: Four more guests determined after DC airport catastrophe


In order to fill the spaces, controllers are often 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 stated: 'This NTSB action is highly unusual. The release of an emergency recommendation asking for the FAA take instant action, before the completion of the NTSB examination is uncommon.'


The two aircraft had collided in a huge fireball that was noticeable 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 passenger airplane crashed-landed upside down in chaotic 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 several minutes up until they tentatively began leaving.


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


Some 21 people were taken to the medical facility for treatment to small injuries, and Delta has provided everyone 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 suburban Pennsylvania retirement community.


Dramatic video showed the Beechcraft A36TC erupt in flames in the parking area of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five people were rushed to healthcare facility.


Medics, ambulances, and emergency vehicles rushed to the scene in Lancaster County as flames engulfed the aircraft and close-by lorries.


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


American Airlines