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

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

The National Transportation Safety Board provided an upgrade on their investigation into the cause of the catastrophe which took place 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 a preliminary report released on Tuesday, detectives raised issues of more accidents involving helicopters at the airport.

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

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

When police, medical or governmental transportation helicopters must use the space civilian planes are stopped from remaining in the exact same location.

Homendy said the NTSB is now recommending that the FAA discover a ‘long-term solution’ for detours for helicopters when two of the airport’s runways remain in use.

Emergency units respond 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 collision

It was likewise revealed on Tuesday that there was cautioning check in the lead up to the deadly catastrophe.

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

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

The NTSB likewise said that there were 85 cases where two airplane where laterally split 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) could have utilized that details whenever to identify that we have a trend here and a problem here, and took a look at that path; that didn’t happen, which is why we’re doing something about it today. But regrettably, people lost lives, and liked ones are grieving.’

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

Duffy stated: ‘I believe the concern is when this information comes in how did the FAA not know. How did they not study the data to say “hey, this is a hot spot, we are having near misses and if we don’t alter our ways we are gon na lose lives”.’

He included: ‘That wasn’t done, maybe there was a focus on something other than safety.’

Duffy would later on added when questioned by a press 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, killing 67 individuals

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Investigators think that the helicopter associated with the crash may have had unreliable altitude readings in the minutes before the crash.

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

On Tuesday American Airlines welcomed the report by the NTSB, saying: ‘We’re grateful for the National Transportation Safety Board’s urgent security suggestions to limit helicopter traffic near DCA and for its thorough examination.

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

The helicopter pilots may have likewise missed part of another interaction, when the tower said the jet was turning toward a various runway, Homendy said last month.

The helicopter was on a ‘check’ flight that night where the pilot was undergoing an annual test and a test on using night vision safety glasses, Homendy said.

Investigators believe the crew was wearing night vision safety glasses throughout the flight.

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

At the time of the crash, a single air traffic controller was all at once monitoring both the helicopter and aircraft traffic.

Those tasks are typically managed in between two individuals from 10am up until 9:30 pm, according to an early FAA report seen by The New York Times.

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

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

At the time of the crash, a single air traffic controller was simultaneously keeping an eye on both the helicopter and aircraft traffic. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is seen here

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

A supervisor supposedly decided to combine those duties before the set up cutoff time however, and permitted one air traffic controller to leave work early.

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

Reagan National has actually been understaffed for several years, with simply 19 totally licensed 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 scenario appeared to have improved 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 towers is nothing new, with popular causes consisting of high turnover and spending plan cuts.

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In order to fill the spaces, controllers are regularly asked to work 10-hour days, 6 days a week.

After the release of the report, previous Inspector General of the US Department of Transportation Mary Schiavo deemed the findings as ‘uncommon’.

She stated: ‘This NTSB action is extremely uncommon. The release of an emergency suggestion asking for the FAA take instant action, before the conclusion of the NTSB examination is unusual.’

The 2 airplane had actually collided in a substantial fireball that was noticeable 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 guest airplane crashed-landed upside down in chaotic 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 evacuating.

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

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

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

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

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

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

American Airlines