Crash Warning as Report into DC Disaster at Reagan Airport Is Released
Federal private investigators have raised concerns of a potential for another lethal plane crash at Reagan National Airport, after a midair accident earlier this year killed 67.
The National Transportation Safety Board offered an upgrade on their examination into the reason for the disaster which occurred 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 aircrafts.
As part of an initial report released on Tuesday, detectives raised issues of more collisions including helicopters at the airport.
NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said: ‘We stay concerned about the considerable potential for future mid-air collision at DCA.’
Her issues revolve around Transport Secretary Sean Duffy relocating to limit helicopter traffic around the location, however that is set to stop at the end of the month.
When authorities, medical or governmental transportation helicopters must use the area civilian planes are stopped from being in the very same location.
Homendy stated the NTSB is now advising that the FAA discover a ‘long-term solution’ for alternate routes for helicopters when 2 of the airport’s runways remain in usage.
Emergency units respond after a guest airplane collided 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 talks to press reporters about the 29 January mid-air collision
It was also exposed 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 discovered that 15,214 ‘near-miss events’ of planes getting alerts about helicopters remaining in close distance in between October 2021 and December 2024.
The NTSB also 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 added: ‘That data from October 2021 through December 2024, (the FAA) could have utilized that details whenever to figure out that we have a pattern here and an issue here, and looked at that path; that didn’t take place, which is why we’re doing something about it today. But regrettably, individuals lost lives, and loved ones are grieving.’
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy slammed these findings at a later press conference on Tuesday.
Duffy said: ‘I believe the question is when this data comes in how did the FAA not understand. How did they not study the information to state “hello, this is a hot spot, we are having near misses and if we do not change our methods we are gon na lose lives”.’
He added: ‘That wasn’t done, perhaps there was a concentrate on something aside from safety.’
Duffy would later on added when questioned by a reporter about the near misses that the information 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, eliminating 67 people
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Investigators think that the helicopter included in the crash may have had incorrect elevation readings in the minutes before the crash.
The crash most likely happened at an altitude just under 300 feet, as the airplane came down towards the chopper, which was above its 200-foot limit for that area.
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 restrict helicopter traffic near DCA and for its thorough investigation.
‘We will continue to coordinate closely with PSA Airlines as it works together as an investigative party member.’
The helicopter pilots may have likewise missed out on part of another communication, when the tower said the jet was turning towards 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 using night vision goggles, Homendy stated.
Investigators think the crew was wearing night vision safety glasses throughout the flight.
The Army has stated the Black Hawk crew was highly experienced, and accustomed to the congested skies around the nation ´ s capital.
At the time of the accident, a single air traffic controller was simultaneously keeping an eye on both the helicopter and aircraft traffic.
Those jobs are normally handled between 2 people from 10am up until 9:30 pm, according to an early FAA report seen by The New York Times.
Those jobs are usually dealt with between two individuals from 10am up until 9:30 pm, according to the report.
Surveillance footage drawn from inside the airport recorded the minute the two clashed in midair
At the time of the accident, a single air traffic controller was all at once monitoring both the helicopter and aircraft traffic. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is seen here
After 9:30 pm the tasks are usually combined and one individual as the airport sees less traffic later on in the night.
A manager reportedly chose to integrate those duties before the set up cutoff time nevertheless, and enabled one air traffic controller to leave work early.
The FAA report said that staffing setup ‘was not typical for the time of day and volume of traffic’.
Reagan National has been understaffed for several years, with just 19 totally licensed controllers as of September 2023 – well listed below the target of 30 – according to the most current Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan submitted to Congress.
The circumstance appeared to have actually improved ever since, 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 brand-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 regularly 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 considered the findings as ‘uncommon’.
She said: ‘This NTSB action is highly unusual. The release of an emergency situation recommendation requesting the FAA take immediate action, before the conclusion of the NTSB investigation is uncommon.’
The two airplane had collided in a big fireball that showed up 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 guest 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 seatbelts for a number of minutes till they tentatively started leaving.
The aircraft had actually been heading to Toronto from Minneapolis – Saint Paul International Airport with 76 guests and four crew members on board.
Some 21 individuals were taken to the medical facility for treatment to minor injuries, and Delta has offered each person a no-strings $30,000 payout in compensation.
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 footage showed the Beechcraft A36TC appear in flames in the parking area of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five individuals were hurried to medical facility.
Medics, ambulances, and emergency situation cars hurried to the scene in Lancaster County as flames swallowed up the aircraft and nearby lorries.
The airplane took off as set up on Sunday afternoon, however rapidly asked for to land back on the tarmac due to the fact that its door had actually opened.
American Airlines