Crash Warning as Report into DC Disaster at Reagan Airport Is Released
Federal investigators have actually raised issues of a potential for another fatal aircraft crash at Reagan National Airport, after a midair collision previously this year killed 67.
The National Transportation Safety Board provided an update on their investigation into the cause of 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, killing everybody on board both airplanes.
As part of an initial report released on Tuesday, private investigators raised issues of more accidents involving helicopters at the airport.
NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said: ‘We stay concerned about the significant capacity for future mid-air collision at DCA.’
Her concerns revolve around Transport Secretary Sean Duffy transferring to limit helicopter traffic around the location, however that is set to cease at the end of the month.
When police, medical or governmental transport helicopters must use the area civilian planes are stopped from remaining in the very same location.
Homendy stated the NTSB is now recommending that the FAA find a ‘long-term option’ for alternate routes for helicopters when two of the airport’s runways are in usage.
Emergency systems 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 speaks with press reporters about the 29 January mid-air collision
It was likewise revealed on Tuesday that there was cautioning indications in the lead up to the lethal disaster.
Those penetrating the crash went through 944,179 operations between October 2021 and December 2024.
It was discovered that 15,214 ‘near-miss occasions’ of airplanes getting signals about helicopters remaining in close distance in between October 2021 and December 2024.
The NTSB also 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 added: ‘That information from October 2021 through December 2024, (the FAA) might have utilized that details any time to determine that we have a pattern here and an issue here, and looked at that route; that didn’t occur, which is why we’re doing something about it today. But unfortunately, individuals lost lives, and loved ones are grieving.’
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy knocked these findings at a later press conference on Tuesday.
Duffy stated: ‘I believe the concern is when this information can be found in how did the FAA not understand. How did they not study the information to state “hey, this is a hot area, we are having near misses out on and if we don’t change our ways we are gon na lose lives”.’
He included: ‘That wasn’t done, maybe there was a concentrate on something other than security.’
Duffy would later 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 being in the Potomac River after Flight 5342 hit an Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday night, killing 67 individuals
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Investigators believe that the helicopter associated with the crash may have had inaccurate elevation readings in the minutes before the crash.
The collision most likely took place at an altitude simply under 300 feet, as the airplane descended toward the chopper, which was above its 200-foot limitation for that area.
On Tuesday American Airlines welcomed the report by the NTSB, saying: ‘We’re grateful for the National Transportation Safety Board’s immediate safety recommendations to restrict helicopter traffic near DCA and for its extensive examination.
‘We will continue to collaborate carefully with PSA Airlines as it cooperates as an investigative celebration member.’
The helicopter pilots may have also missed 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 going through a yearly test and a test on using night vision safety glasses, Homendy stated.
Investigators think the team was using night vision safety glasses throughout the flight.
The Army has stated the Black Hawk crew was extremely 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 keeping an eye on both the helicopter and plane traffic.
Those tasks are typically handled between two people from 10am up until 9:30 pm, according to an early FAA report seen by The New York Times.
Those tasks are generally managed in between 2 people from 10am up until 9:30 pm, according to the report.
Surveillance video taken from inside the airport caught the minute the two clashed in midair
At the time of the accident, a single air traffic controller was concurrently keeping track of both the helicopter and aircraft traffic. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is seen here
After 9:30 pm the responsibilities are typically integrated and delegated someone 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 permitted one air traffic controller to leave work early.
The FAA report said that staffing setup ‘was not regular for the time of day and volume of traffic’.
Reagan National has been understaffed for several years, with simply 19 totally certified 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 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 absolutely nothing new, with widely known causes consisting of high turnover and budget plan cuts.
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In order to fill the gaps, controllers are frequently asked to work 10-hour days, six days a week.
After the release of the report, previous 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 suggestion requesting the FAA take instant action, before the completion of the NTSB investigation is uncommon.’
The two airplane had collided in a substantial fireball that was visible on dashcams of cars and on highways that snake around the airport, before plunging into the river.
Less than a month later on, on February 17, a Delta passenger airplane crashed-landed upside down in disorderly 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 till they tentatively began evacuating.
The plane had actually been heading to Toronto from Minneapolis – Saint Paul International Airport with 76 guests and four crew members on board.
Some 21 people were taken to the health center for treatment to small injuries, and Delta has offered each person 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 appear in flames in the parking lot of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five individuals were rushed to medical facility.
Medics, ambulances, and emergency situation vehicles hurried to the scene in Lancaster County as flames engulfed the aircraft and nearby lorries.
The plane took off as scheduled on Sunday afternoon, but rapidly requested to land back on the tarmac because its door had actually opened.
American Airlines
