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

Federal detectives have raised concerns of a capacity for another deadly plane crash at Reagan National Airport, after a midair accident earlier this year killed 67.

The National Transportation Safety Board offered an upgrade on their examination into the cause of the catastrophe which occurred 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 released on Tuesday, investigators raised concerns of more collisions including helicopters at the airport.

NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy stated: ‘We stay concerned about the substantial capacity for future mid-air crash at DCA.’

Her concerns focus on Transport Secretary Sean Duffy transferring to restrict helicopter traffic around the location, however that is set to stop at the end of the month.

When cops, medical or governmental transport helicopters need to use the space civilian planes are stopped from remaining in the very same area.

Homendy said the NTSB is now suggesting that the FAA find a ‘irreversible solution’ for alternate paths for helicopters when 2 of the airport’s runways remain in usage.

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

It was also revealed on Tuesday that there was alerting check in the lead up to the fatal catastrophe.

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

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

The NTSB likewise 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 details at any time to figure out that we have a pattern here and a problem here, and looked at that path; that didn’t happen, which is why we’re doing something about it today. But sadly, individuals lost lives, and liked ones are grieving.’

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

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

He added: ‘That wasn’t done, perhaps there was a concentrate on something other than safety.’

Duffy would later added when questioned by a 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 collided with 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 incorrect altitude readings in the minutes before the crash.

The accident likely happened at an elevation simply under 300 feet, as the aircraft descended toward the chopper, which was above its 200-foot limitation for that place.

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 extensive examination.

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

The helicopter pilots may have also missed part of another communication, 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 undergoing a yearly test and a test on using night vision goggles, Homendy said.

Investigators think the crew was using night vision safety glasses throughout the flight.

The Army has said the Black Hawk team was extremely experienced, and accustomed to the crowded skies around the country ´ s capital.

At the time of the collision, a single air traffic controller was simultaneously keeping an eye on both the helicopter and plane traffic.

Those jobs are usually dealt with in between 2 people from 10am up until 9:30 pm, according to an early FAA report seen by The New York Times.

Those tasks are usually managed in between 2 individuals from 10am until 9:30 pm, according to the report.

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

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

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

A supervisor apparently decided to combine those tasks before the set up cutoff time nevertheless, and enabled one air traffic controller to leave work early.

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

Reagan National has actually been understaffed for several years, with simply 19 totally licensed controllers since September 2023 – well below the target of 30 – according to the most recent Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan sent to Congress.

The situation appeared to have actually 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 service towers is absolutely nothing new, with widely known causes consisting of high turnover and budget 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 ‘uncommon’.

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

The 2 aircraft had clashed in a substantial fireball that showed up 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 passenger 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 seat belts for several minutes up until they tentatively started leaving.

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

Some 21 individuals were taken to the health center for treatment to minor injuries, and Delta has provided each person a no-strings $30,000 payment in payment.

And the aircraft carnage is continuous – on Sunday, yet another jet crash-landed, this time in a parking area of a suburban Pennsylvania retirement home.

Dramatic footage revealed the Beechcraft A36TC emerge in flames in the car park of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five individuals were rushed to medical facility.

Medics, ambulances, and emergency situation vehicles rushed to the scene in Lancaster County as flames engulfed the aircraft and nearby vehicles.

The aircraft took off as set up on Sunday afternoon, but quickly requested to land back on the tarmac since its door had opened.

American Airlines