29sixservices

About Us

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

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

The National Transportation Safety Board offered an upgrade on their examination into the reason for the catastrophe which took place on January 29 in Washington.

An American Airlines jetliner and a Black Hawk military helicopter collided in midair over the Potomac River, killing everybody on board both aircrafts.

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

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

Her concerns 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 authorities, medical or governmental transport helicopters should use the area civilian airplanes are stopped from being in the exact same location.

Homendy stated the NTSB is now recommending that the FAA discover a ‘permanent service’ for detours for helicopters when two of the airport’s runways are in use.

Emergency systems respond after a traveler 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 speaks to reporters about the 29 January mid-air collision

It was likewise revealed on Tuesday that there was cautioning signs in the lead up to the .

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

It was revealed that 15,214 ‘near-miss occasions’ of airplanes getting informs about helicopters being in close distance between October 2021 and December 2024.

The NTSB also stated that there were 85 cases where 2 aircraft 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) might have utilized that details 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 doing something about it today. But regrettably, people lost lives, and enjoyed 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 data is available in how did the FAA not know. How did they not study the information to say “hi, this is a hot spot, we are having near misses and if we do not change our ways we are gon na lose lives”.’

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

Duffy would later 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

Your browser does not support iframes.

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

The accident most likely took place at an elevation simply under 300 feet, as the plane descended toward the chopper, which was above its 200-foot limitation 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 recommendations to restrict helicopter traffic near DCA and for its thorough examination.

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

The helicopter pilots might have likewise missed out on part of another communication, when the tower stated the jet was turning towards a various 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 using night vision goggles, Homendy said.

Investigators think the team was wearing 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 monitoring both the helicopter and plane traffic.

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

Those jobs are generally managed between two people from 10am till 9:30 pm, according to the report.

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

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

After 9:30 pm the duties are normally combined and delegated one individual as the airport sees less traffic later on in the night.

A supervisor supposedly decided to integrate those responsibilities before the scheduled cutoff time nevertheless, and permitted one air traffic controller to leave work early.

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

Reagan National has been understaffed for several years, with simply 19 completely 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 enhanced considering 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 service towers is nothing brand-new, with widely known causes consisting of high turnover and spending plan cuts.

EXCLUSIVE

Full list of DC aircraft crash victims: Four more passengers identified after DC airport disaster

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 stated: ‘This NTSB action is extremely unusual. The release of an emergency situation suggestion requesting the FAA take immediate action, before the conclusion of the NTSB investigation is uncommon.’

The 2 airplane had collided in a substantial 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 airplane 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 seat belts for several minutes till they tentatively started evacuating.

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

Some 21 people were required to the health center for treatment to small injuries, and Delta has offered each person a no-strings $30,000 payout in payment.

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

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

Medics, ambulances, and emergency cars rushed to the scene in Lancaster County as flames engulfed the aircraft and close-by automobiles.

The plane took off as arranged on Sunday afternoon, but quickly asked for to land back on the tarmac due to the fact that its door had actually opened.

American Airlines