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

Federal private investigators have raised issues of a capacity for another fatal aircraft crash at Reagan National Airport, after a midair collision earlier this year killed 67.

The National Transportation Safety Board offered an upgrade on their investigation into the reason for the catastrophe 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 everyone on board both airplanes.

As part of an initial report launched on Tuesday, detectives raised issues of more accidents involving helicopters at the airport.

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

Her issues revolve around Transport Secretary Sean Duffy transferring to limit helicopter traffic around the location, but that is set to stop at the end of the month.

When authorities, medical or governmental transport helicopters must use the area civilian planes are stopped from being in the same area.

Homendy said the NTSB is now suggesting that the FAA find a ‘long-term option’ for detours for helicopters when 2 of the airport’s runways are in usage.

Emergency systems 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 reporters about the 29 January mid-air crash

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

Those probing the crash went through 944,179 operations in between October 2021 and December 2024.

It was uncovered that 15,214 ‘near-miss events’ of aircrafts getting informs about helicopters being in close distance between October 2021 and December 2024.

The NTSB likewise said that there were 85 cases where 2 airplane 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 information at any time to determine that we have a trend here and a problem here, and looked at that path; that didn’t occur, which is why we’re acting today. But regrettably, people lost lives, and liked 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 is available in how did the FAA not understand. How did they not study the information to state “hey, this is a location, we are having near misses and if we do not alter our methods we are gon na lose lives”.’

He included: ‘That wasn’t done, perhaps there was a concentrate on something aside from security.’

Duffy would later added when questioned by a press reporter about the near misses 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, eliminating 67 people

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Investigators think that the helicopter involved in the crash may have had incorrect elevation readings in the minutes before the crash.

The collision most likely occurred at an elevation simply under 300 feet, as the plane came down towards 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 limit helicopter traffic near DCA and for its extensive examination.

‘We will continue to collaborate closely with PSA Airlines as it cooperates as an investigative celebration member.’

The helicopter pilots may have likewise missed part of another interaction, when the tower stated the jet was turning toward a different 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 said.

Investigators believe the team was wearing night vision goggles throughout the flight.

The Army has stated the Black Hawk team was extremely experienced, and accustomed to the congested skies around the nation ´ s capital.

At the time of the collision, a single air controller was at the same time keeping track of both the helicopter and airplane traffic.

Those tasks are normally handled between 2 people from 10am until 9:30 pm, according to an early FAA report seen by The New york city Times.

Those tasks are usually handled between two individuals from 10am till 9:30 pm, according to the report.

Surveillance video drawn from inside the airport caught the minute the 2 collided in midair

At the time of the crash, a single air traffic controller was at the same time monitoring both the helicopter and aircraft traffic. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is seen here

After 9:30 pm the duties are normally integrated and left to a single person as the airport sees less traffic later on in the night.

A supervisor supposedly chose to integrate those tasks before the arranged cutoff time however, and enabled one air traffic controller to leave work early.

The FAA report stated that staffing configuration ‘was not regular for the time of day and volume of traffic’.

Reagan National has actually been understaffed for lots of years, with simply 19 fully accredited controllers since September 2023 – well listed below the target of 30 – according to the most current Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan sent 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 towers is absolutely nothing brand-new, with widely known causes including 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, former Inspector General of the US Department of Transportation Mary Schiavo deemed the findings as ‘uncommon’.

She said: ‘This NTSB action is highly unusual. The release of an emergency recommendation requesting the FAA take immediate action, before the conclusion of the NTSB examination is rare.’

The 2 aircraft had clashed in a huge fireball that was noticeable on dashcams of automobiles 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 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 seatbelts for several minutes till they tentatively started evacuating.

The airplane had been heading to Toronto from Minneapolis – Saint Paul International Airport with 76 guests and 4 crew members on board.

Some 21 people were required to the medical facility for treatment to small injuries, and Delta has actually provided each individual a no-strings $30,000 payout in compensation.

And the plane carnage is continuous – on Sunday, yet another jet crash-landed, this time in a car park of a rural Pennsylvania retirement home.

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

Medics, ambulances, and emergency situation cars rushed to the scene in Lancaster County as flames swallowed up the aircraft and nearby cars.

The airplane took off as scheduled on Sunday afternoon, however quickly asked for to land back on the tarmac since its door had opened.