Crash Warning as Report into DC Disaster at Reagan Airport Is Released
Federal private investigators have raised issues of a potential for another lethal aircraft crash at Reagan National Airport, after a midair crash previously this year killed 67.
The National Transportation Safety Board provided an upgrade on their investigation into the cause of the disaster which happened on January 29 in Washington.
An American Airlines jetliner and a Black Hawk military helicopter clashed in midair over the Potomac River, eliminating everybody on board both airplanes.
As part of an released on Tuesday, detectives raised issues of more collisions including helicopters at the airport.
NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy stated: ‘We stay concerned about the considerable capacity for future mid-air collision at DCA.’
Her concerns focus on 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 need to use the space civilian airplanes are stopped from being in the very same area.
Homendy said the NTSB is now advising that the FAA discover a ‘irreversible option’ for detours for helicopters when 2 of the airport’s runways remain in usage.
Emergency units respond after a guest airplane clashed 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 also revealed on Tuesday that there was alerting 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 uncovered that 15,214 ‘near-miss events’ of planes getting informs about helicopters being in close proximity in between October 2021 and December 2024.
The NTSB also stated that there were 85 cases where 2 aircraft where laterally split 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 info at any time to identify that we have a pattern here and an issue here, and looked at that path; that didn’t occur, which is why we’re doing something about it today. But regrettably, individuals lost lives, and enjoyed ones are grieving.’
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy knocked these findings at a later press conference on Tuesday.
Duffy said: ‘I believe the concern is when this data can be found in how did the FAA not know. How did they not study the information to say “hello, this is a hot area, we are having near misses 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 included 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 think that the helicopter included in the crash may have had inaccurate altitude readings in the minutes before the crash.
The accident likely occurred at an altitude simply under 300 feet, as the aircraft descended towards the chopper, which was above its 200-foot limit for that location.
On Tuesday American Airlines invited the report by the NTSB, saying: ‘We’re grateful for the National Transportation Safety Board’s immediate security suggestions to limit helicopter traffic near DCA and for its thorough investigation.
‘We will continue to collaborate closely with PSA Airlines as it cooperates as an investigative party member.’
The helicopter pilots might have likewise missed out on part of another communication, when the tower said the jet was turning towards a different runway, Homendy said last month.
The helicopter was on a ‘check’ flight that night where the pilot was going through an annual 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 crowded skies around the country ´ s capital.
At the time of the crash, a single air traffic controller was at the same time keeping an eye on both the helicopter and plane traffic.
Those jobs are usually managed between 2 individuals from 10am till 9:30 pm, according to an early FAA report seen by The New York Times.
Those tasks are typically dealt with between two individuals from 10am till 9:30 pm, according to the report.
Surveillance video taken from inside the airport recorded the minute the two collided in midair
At the time of the accident, a single air traffic controller was concurrently keeping track of both the helicopter and airplane traffic. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is seen here
After 9:30 pm the tasks are usually integrated and delegated someone as the airport sees less traffic later on in the night.
A manager supposedly decided to integrate those responsibilities before the scheduled cutoff time however, and enabled one air traffic controller to leave work early.
The FAA report said that staffing setup ‘was not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic’.
Reagan National has actually been understaffed for several years, with simply 19 completely accredited controllers since September 2023 – well below the target of 30 – according to the most current Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan sent to Congress.
The situation appeared to have actually enhanced since 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 brand-new, with well-known causes including high turnover and spending plan cuts.
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In order to fill the gaps, controllers are frequently asked to work 10-hour days, 6 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 uncommon. The release of an emergency situation recommendation requesting the FAA take instant action, before the completion of the NTSB examination is uncommon.’
The 2 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 February 17, a Delta guest plane 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 seatbelts for several minutes up until they tentatively started evacuating.
The plane had been heading to Toronto from Minneapolis – Saint Paul International Airport with 76 guests and 4 crew members on board.
Some 21 individuals were required to the health center for treatment to small injuries, and Delta has actually provided everyone 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 community.
Dramatic video footage showed the Beechcraft A36TC emerge in flames in the car park of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five individuals were hurried to medical facility.
Medics, ambulances, and emergency situation automobiles hurried to the scene in Lancaster County as flames engulfed the airplane and neighboring cars.
The aircraft took off as scheduled on Sunday afternoon, but quickly asked for to land back on the tarmac because its door had opened.
American Airlines
