Crash Warning as Report into DC Disaster at Reagan Airport Is Released
Federal private investigators have raised concerns of a capacity for another lethal aircraft crash at Reagan National Airport, after a midair accident previously this year killed 67.
The National Transportation Safety Board offered an upgrade on their investigation into the cause of the catastrophe which happened on January 29 in Washington.
An American Airlines jetliner and a Black Hawk military helicopter collided in midair over the Potomac River, killing everybody on board both airplanes.
As part of a preliminary report released on Tuesday, investigators raised issues of more collisions including helicopters at the airport.
NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said: ‘We remain concerned about the significant potential for future mid-air collision at DCA.’
Her issues focus on Transport Secretary Sean Duffy moving to restrict helicopter traffic around the location, however that is set to stop at the end of the month.
When authorities, medical or governmental transportation helicopters need to use the space civilian aircrafts are stopped from remaining in the exact same location.
Homendy said the NTSB is now recommending that the FAA discover a ‘permanent service’ for alternate routes for helicopters when two of the airport’s runways are in use.
Emergency units respond after a traveler 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 speaks to press reporters about the 29 January mid-air crash
It was likewise exposed on Tuesday that there was alerting indications in the lead up to the fatal disaster.
Those penetrating the crash went through 944,179 operations in between October 2021 and December 2024.
It was uncovered that 15,214 ‘near-miss occasions’ of airplanes getting informs about helicopters remaining 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 added: ‘That information from October 2021 through December 2024, (the FAA) might have used that details any time to determine that we have a trend here and a problem here, and took a look 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 these findings at a later interview 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 data to state “hey, this is a hot area, we are having near misses and if we don’t alter our ways we are gon na lose lives”.’
He added: ‘That wasn’t done, maybe there was a concentrate on something aside from security.’
Duffy would later on included when questioned by a 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 collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday night, killing 67 people
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Investigators think that the helicopter involved in the crash may have had unreliable 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 toward the chopper, which was above its 200-foot limitation for that area.
On Tuesday American Airlines invited the report by the NTSB, saying: ‘We’re grateful for the National Transportation Safety Board’s immediate security recommendations to restrict helicopter traffic near DCA and for its comprehensive investigation.
‘We will continue to collaborate carefully with PSA Airlines as it cooperates as an investigative celebration member.’
The helicopter pilots may have likewise 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 going through a yearly test and a test on utilizing night vision goggles, Homendy said.
Investigators think the crew was using night vision goggles throughout the flight.
The Army has stated the Black Hawk team was extremely experienced, and accustomed to the crowded skies around the nation ´ s capital.
At the time of the accident, a single air traffic controller was at the same time keeping an eye on both the helicopter and airplane traffic.
Those jobs are typically dealt with between 2 individuals from 10am up until 9:30 pm, according to an early FAA report seen by The New York Times.
Those tasks are generally dealt with between 2 individuals from 10am up until 9:30 pm, according to the report.
Surveillance video footage taken from inside the airport caught the minute the 2 collided in midair
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. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is seen here
After 9:30 pm the responsibilities are generally integrated and left to someone as the airport sees less traffic later in the night.
A supervisor reportedly chose to combine those tasks before the arranged cutoff time nevertheless, and permitted one air traffic controller to leave work early.
The FAA report stated that staffing setup ‘was not regular for the time of day and volume of traffic’.
Reagan National has actually been understaffed for lots of years, with just 19 completely accredited controllers as of September 2023 – well listed below the target of 30 – according to the most recent Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan submitted to Congress.
The scenario appeared to have actually improved considering that 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 towers is absolutely nothing brand-new, with widely known causes consisting of high turnover and budget plan cuts.
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In order to fill the spaces, controllers are regularly asked to work 10-hour days, 6 days a week.
After the release of the report, previous Inspector General of the US Department of Transportation Mary Schiavo considered the findings as ‘unusual’.
She said: ‘This NTSB action is highly uncommon. The release of an emergency recommendation requesting the FAA take instant action, before the completion of the NTSB examination is uncommon.’
The 2 aircraft had clashed in a substantial fireball that was visible 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 traveler plane 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 several minutes up until they tentatively began 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 individuals were required to the hospital for treatment to small injuries, and Delta has actually used each individual a no-strings $30,000 payment in settlement.
And the plane carnage is continuous – on Sunday, yet another jet crash-landed, this time in a parking area of a suburban Pennsylvania retirement home.
Dramatic video showed the Beechcraft A36TC erupt in flames in the car park of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five people were hurried to medical facility.
Medics, ambulances, and emergency situation lorries rushed to the scene in Lancaster County as flames engulfed the airplane and close-by lorries.
The plane took off as arranged on Sunday afternoon, but quickly asked for to land back on the tarmac because its door had opened.
American Airlines