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

Federal investigators have raised concerns of a potential for another lethal airplane crash at Reagan National Airport, after a midair crash previously this year eliminated 67.

The National Transportation Safety Board gave an update on their investigation into the reason for the disaster which occurred on January 29 in Washington.

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

As part of a preliminary report launched on Tuesday, private investigators raised issues of more collisions involving helicopters at the airport.

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

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

When cops, medical or governmental transport helicopters need to use the space civilian aircrafts are stopped from being in the same area.

Homendy said the NTSB is now suggesting that the FAA discover a ‘long-term option’ for alternate paths for helicopters when 2 of the airport’s runways remain in use.

Emergency units respond after a passenger 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 accident

It was also exposed on Tuesday that there was alerting signs in the lead up to the lethal disaster.

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 aircrafts getting informs about helicopters remaining in close proximity 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) could have used that information at any time to identify that we have a trend here and a problem here, and took a look at that path; that didn’t occur, which is why we’re acting today. But unfortunately, individuals lost lives, and enjoyed ones are grieving.’

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy knocked these findings at a later interview on Tuesday.

Duffy stated: ‘I believe the question is when this data comes in how did the FAA not know. How did they not study the information to say “hi, this is a hot spot, we are having near misses and if we do not alter our methods we are gon na lose lives”.’

He added: ‘That wasn’t done, possibly there was a concentrate on something other than safety.’

Duffy would later on added when questioned by a press reporter about the near misses out on that the data had ‘p *** ed him off’.

Pictured: Parts of the wreckage seen sitting in the Potomac River after Flight 5342 collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday night, eliminating 67 individuals

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Investigators think that the helicopter included in the crash may have had inaccurate altitude readings in the minutes before the crash.

The accident likely took place at an elevation simply under 300 feet, as the airplane came down towards the chopper, which was above its 200-foot limit for that location.

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 comprehensive examination.

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

The helicopter pilots may have also missed out on part of another communication, when the tower stated 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 an annual test and a test on utilizing night vision goggles, Homendy stated.

Investigators think the crew was wearing 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 at the same time keeping track of both the helicopter and aircraft traffic.

Those jobs are typically handled in between two individuals from 10am till 9:30 pm, according to an early FAA report seen by The New york city Times.

Those tasks are generally managed in between 2 people from 10am until 9:30 pm, according to the report.

Surveillance video footage taken from inside the airport caught the moment the 2 collided in midair

At the time of the collision, a single air traffic controller was at the same time 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 combined and left to one individual as the airport sees less traffic later on in the night.

A supervisor reportedly chose to combine those duties before the arranged cutoff time nevertheless, and allowed one air traffic controller to leave work early.

The FAA report said that staffing not regular for the time of day and volume of traffic’.

Reagan National has actually been understaffed for many years, with just 19 totally certified controllers since September 2023 – well listed below the target of 30 – according to the most recent Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan submitted to Congress.

The situation appeared to have actually improved ever since, 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 towers is nothing new, with popular causes consisting of high turnover and spending plan cuts.

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In order to fill the gaps, 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 considered the findings as ‘unusual’.

She stated: ‘This NTSB action is extremely uncommon. The release of an emergency suggestion asking for the FAA take instant action, before the conclusion of the NTSB investigation is unusual.’

The two airplane had actually clashed 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 February 17, a Delta passenger aircraft 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 seatbelts for numerous minutes until they tentatively began leaving.

The airplane had actually 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 hospital for treatment to small injuries, and Delta has offered everyone a no-strings $30,000 payment in payment.

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

Dramatic footage revealed the Beechcraft A36TC erupt in flames in the parking lot of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five individuals were hurried to healthcare facility.