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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 capacity for another deadly plane crash at Reagan National Airport, after a midair crash earlier this year eliminated 67.

The National Transportation Safety Board gave 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 everyone on board both airplanes.

As part of a preliminary report launched on Tuesday, private investigators raised issues of more crashes involving helicopters at the airport.

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

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

When police, medical or presidential transportation helicopters need to use the area civilian planes are stopped from being in the same area.

Homendy stated the NTSB is now recommending that the FAA find a ‘long-term solution’ for alternate routes for helicopters when two of the airport’s runways remain in usage.

Emergency systems respond after a passenger aircraft collided 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 talks to reporters about the 29 January mid-air collision

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

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 planes getting notifies about helicopters being in close distance between October 2021 and December 2024.

The NTSB also 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 added: ‘That data 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 took a look at that route; that didn’t take place, which is why we’re acting today. But regrettably, people lost lives, and enjoyed ones are grieving.’

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

Duffy said: ‘I think the question is when this data comes in how did the FAA not understand. How did they not study the information to say “hey, this is a location, we are having near misses out on and if we do not alter our methods we are gon na lose lives”.’

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

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

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Investigators think that the helicopter involved in the crash might have had incorrect altitude in the minutes before the crash.

The collision likely took place at an elevation 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 invited the report by the NTSB, stating: ‘We’re grateful for the National Transportation Safety Board’s immediate security recommendations to limit helicopter traffic near DCA and for its thorough investigation.

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

The helicopter pilots may have also missed 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 undergoing an annual test and a test on utilizing night vision goggles, Homendy stated.

Investigators think the crew was using night vision goggles throughout the flight.

The Army has stated 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 at the same time keeping an eye on both the helicopter and plane traffic.

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

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

Surveillance video taken from inside the airport caught the moment the two clashed in midair

At the time of the accident, a single air traffic controller was at the same time keeping an eye on both the helicopter and plane traffic. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is seen here

After 9:30 pm the tasks are generally integrated and left to someone as the airport sees less traffic later in the night.

A manager reportedly decided to combine those duties before the set up cutoff time nevertheless, and enabled one air traffic controller to leave work early.

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

Reagan National has been understaffed for numerous years, with simply 19 completely licensed controllers as of September 2023 – well listed below the target of 30 – according to the most current Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan submitted to Congress.

The situation appeared to have improved since 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 towers is absolutely nothing new, with widely known causes including high turnover and budget plan cuts.

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In order to fill the spaces, 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 said: ‘This NTSB action is highly unusual. The release of an emergency suggestion asking for the FAA take immediate action, before the conclusion of the NTSB examination is unusual.’

The two airplane had actually clashed in a huge 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, on February 17, a Delta guest plane crashed-landed upside down in chaotic scenes at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada.

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

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

Some 21 individuals were taken to the hospital for treatment to small injuries, and Delta has actually provided each person 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 suburban Pennsylvania retirement community.

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

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

The aircraft took off as set up on Sunday afternoon, however quickly asked for to land back on the tarmac due to the fact that its door had opened.

American Airlines