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

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

The National Transportation Safety Board provided an upgrade on their investigation into the reason for the catastrophe which occurred 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 a preliminary report launched on Tuesday, investigators raised issues of more collisions including helicopters at the airport.

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

Her issues focus on Transport Secretary Sean Duffy relocating to restrict helicopter traffic around the area, however that is set to cease at the end of the month.

When authorities, medical or governmental transport helicopters must utilize the area civilian airplanes are stopped from remaining in the very same location.

Homendy said the NTSB is now advising that the FAA find a ‘irreversible solution’ for detours for helicopters when two of the airport’s runways remain in usage.

Emergency systems react after a guest aircraft 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 with press reporters about the 29 January mid-air accident

It was likewise revealed on Tuesday that there was warning signs in the lead up to the lethal catastrophe.

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 airplanes getting alerts about helicopters remaining in close proximity in between October 2021 and December 2024.

The NTSB likewise said 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 included: ‘That data from October 2021 through December 2024, (the FAA) might have utilized that info whenever to identify that we have a trend here and a problem here, and took a look at that route; that didn’t occur, which is why we’re taking action today. But unfortunately, people lost lives, and enjoyed ones are grieving.’

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

Duffy stated: ‘I think the question is when this data is available in how did the FAA not understand. How did they not study the information to say “hi, this is a hot spot, we are having near misses out on and if we don’t alter our ways we are gon na lose lives”.’

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

Duffy would later added when questioned by a 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, eliminating 67 people

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Investigators believe that the helicopter associated with the crash may have had incorrect elevation readings in the minutes before the crash.

The accident most likely occurred at an elevation just under 300 feet, as the airplane descended toward the chopper, which was above its 200-foot limitation for that location.

On Tuesday American Airlines invited the report by the NTSB, stating: ‘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 collaborate carefully with PSA Airlines as it complies as an investigative party member.’

The helicopter pilots might have likewise missed out on part of another interaction, when the tower stated 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 a yearly test and a test on using night vision goggles, Homendy stated.

Investigators think the team was using 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 nation ´ s capital.

At the time of the accident, a single air traffic controller was concurrently keeping track of both the helicopter and aircraft traffic.

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

Those jobs are generally handled between 2 individuals from 10am up until 9:30 pm, according to the report.

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

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

After 9:30 pm the tasks are typically combined and left to a single person as the airport sees less traffic later on in the night.

A manager reportedly decided to combine those duties before the scheduled cutoff time however, and enabled one air traffic 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 actually been understaffed for several years, with just 19 fully certified controllers as of 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 enhanced given that 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 towers is absolutely nothing brand-new, with popular causes consisting of high turnover and budget cuts.

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In order to fill the gaps, controllers are regularly 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 uncommon. The release of an emergency recommendation requesting the FAA take immediate action, before the conclusion of the NTSB examination is uncommon.’

The 2 airplane had collided in a huge 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 passenger aircraft crashed-landed upside down in disorderly scenes at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada.

Miraculously, everyone on board survived after being suspended upside-down by their seat belts for a number of minutes until they tentatively started leaving.

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

Some 21 individuals were required to the health center for treatment to small injuries, and Delta has used everyone a no-strings $30,000 payment in compensation.

And the airplane carnage is ongoing – on Sunday, yet another jet crash-landed, this time in a parking lot of a rural Pennsylvania retirement home.

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

Medics, ambulances, and emergency situation lorries hurried to the scene in Lancaster County as flames swallowed up the airplane and neighboring cars.

The plane took off as set up on Sunday afternoon, however rapidly requested to land back on the tarmac because its door had actually opened.

American Airlines