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

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

The National Transportation Safety Board offered an update on their examination into the cause of 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, killing everyone on board both airplanes.

As part of a preliminary report released on Tuesday, detectives raised issues of more crashes including helicopters at the airport.

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

Her issues focus on 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 utilize the space civilian planes are stopped from remaining in the very same location.

Homendy stated the NTSB is now advising that the FAA find a ‘permanent solution’ for detours for helicopters when 2 of the airport’s runways remain in use.

Emergency systems react after a passenger airplane 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 to reporters about the 29 January mid-air accident

It was likewise exposed 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 revealed that 15,214 ‘near-miss events’ of airplanes getting notifies about helicopters remaining in close proximity in between October 2021 and December 2024.

The NTSB likewise stated 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 data from October 2021 through December 2024, (the FAA) might have utilized that details at any time to determine that we have a trend here and an issue here, and took a look at that path; that didn’t happen, which is why we’re taking action today. But unfortunately, 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 think the concern is when this information can be found in how did the FAA not understand. How did they not study the data to say “hello, this is a hot area, we are having near misses and if we do not alter our ways we are gon na lose lives”.’

He included: ‘That wasn’t done, possibly there was a focus on something besides safety.’

Duffy would later on added 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 clashed with an Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday night, eliminating 67 individuals

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Investigators believe that the helicopter involved in the crash may have had unreliable elevation readings in the minutes before the crash.

The collision most likely occurred at an elevation just under 300 feet, as the airplane 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 urgent safety suggestions to restrict helicopter traffic near DCA and for its comprehensive investigation.

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

The helicopter pilots may have also missed out on part of another interaction, when the tower stated the jet was turning towards a different runway, Homendy stated last month.

The helicopter was on a ‘check’ flight that night where the pilot was going through a yearly test and a test on utilizing night vision safety glasses, Homendy said.

Investigators think the team was using 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 accident, a single air traffic controller was all at once keeping an eye on both the helicopter and airplane traffic.

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

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

At the time of the collision, a single air traffic controller was simultaneously 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 left to someone as the airport sees less traffic later on in the night.

A manager apparently 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 setup ‘was not typical for the time of day and volume of traffic’.

Reagan National has been understaffed for lots of years, with simply 19 totally 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 circumstance appeared to have enhanced given that then, 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 new, with widely known causes consisting of high turnover and spending plan cuts.

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In order to fill the spaces, 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 ‘uncommon’.

She said: ‘This NTSB action is extremely uncommon. The release of an emergency recommendation requesting the FAA take immediate action, before the completion of the NTSB investigation is unusual.’

The two aircraft had clashed in a big fireball that was visible on dashcams of cars driving on highways that snake around the airport, before plunging into the river.

Less than a month later on, on February 17, a Delta passenger plane crashed-landed upside down in disorderly scenes at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada.

Miraculously, everyone on board made it through after being by their seat belts for numerous minutes until they tentatively began leaving.

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

Some 21 people were taken to the healthcare facility for treatment to minor injuries, and Delta has provided everyone a no-strings $30,000 payout in settlement.

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

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

Medics, ambulances, and emergency lorries rushed to the scene in Lancaster County as flames engulfed the plane and nearby automobiles.

The airplane took off as scheduled on Sunday afternoon, however rapidly requested to land back on the tarmac since its door had actually opened.

American Airlines