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

Federal private investigators have raised issues of a potential for another deadly plane crash at Reagan National Airport, after a midair crash previously this year killed 67.

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

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

As part of an initial report launched on Tuesday, private investigators raised concerns of more accidents involving helicopters at the airport.

NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said: ‘We remain concerned about the significant potential for future mid-air crash at DCA.’

Her issues revolve around 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 presidential transportation helicopters must use the area civilian airplanes are stopped from being in the exact same area.

Homendy stated the NTSB is now suggesting that the FAA find a ‘irreversible option’ for alternate routes for helicopters when two of the airport’s runways remain in usage.

Emergency units respond after a traveler aircraft hit 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 crash

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

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

The NTSB also 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 figure out that we have a pattern here and a problem here, and looked at that path; that didn’t occur, which is why we’re acting today. But regrettably, individuals lost lives, and liked ones are grieving.’

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

Duffy said: ‘I think the concern 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 change our methods we are gon na lose lives”.’

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

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

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

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Investigators think that the helicopter included in the crash might have had unreliable elevation readings in the minutes before the crash.

The accident likely took place at an elevation just under 300 feet, as the aircraft 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, stating: ‘We’re grateful for the National Transportation Safety Board’s immediate safety recommendations to restrict helicopter traffic near DCA and for its thorough examination.

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

The helicopter pilots might have also missed 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 undergoing a yearly test and a test on utilizing night vision goggles, Homendy stated.

Investigators believe the team was using night vision safety glasses throughout the flight.

The Army has said the Black Hawk crew was highly experienced, and accustomed to the congested skies around the country ´ s capital.

At the time of the crash, a single air traffic controller was simultaneously monitoring both the helicopter and airplane traffic.

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

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

Surveillance footage drawn from inside the airport captured the moment the two collided in midair

At the time of the accident, a single air traffic controller was all at once keeping track of both the helicopter and aircraft traffic. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is seen here

After 9:30 pm the duties are usually integrated and delegated someone as the airport sees less traffic later on in the night.

A manager supposedly decided to integrate those tasks before the scheduled cutoff time however, 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 been understaffed for several years, with simply 19 fully accredited controllers as of September 2023 – well listed below the target of 30 – according to the most recent Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan sent to Congress.

The situation appeared to have actually enhanced 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 service towers is nothing brand-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 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 deemed the findings as ‘uncommon’.

She said: ‘This NTSB action is highly unusual. The release of an emergency situation suggestion requesting the FAA take immediate action, before the conclusion of the NTSB investigation is uncommon.’

The 2 airplane had actually collided in a big fireball that was noticeable 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 guest plane crashed-landed upside down in disorderly scenes at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada.

Miraculously, everybody on board survived after being suspended upside-down by their seatbelts for several minutes up until they tentatively began leaving.

The plane had actually been heading to Toronto from Minneapolis – Saint Paul International Airport with 76 passengers and four team members on board.

Some 21 individuals were required to the hospital for treatment to small injuries, and Delta has actually used each person a no-strings $30,000 payout in payment.

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

Dramatic video showed the Beechcraft A36TC appear in flames in the parking area of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five people were hurried to healthcare facility.

Medics, ambulances, and emergency lorries rushed to the scene in Lancaster County as flames engulfed the plane and close-by cars.

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

American Airlines