Michal Silvers asked 1 week ago
Federal detectives have raised issues of a potential for another fatal aircraft crash at Reagan National Airport, after a midair crash earlier this year eliminated 67.
The National Transportation Safety Board provided an upgrade on their investigation into the reason for the catastrophe which happened on January 29 in Washington.
An American Airlines jetliner and a Black Hawk military helicopter clashed in midair over the Potomac River, killing everybody on board both aircrafts.
As part of a preliminary report released on Tuesday, detectives raised concerns of more collisions involving helicopters at the airport.
NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said: ‘We stay worried about the considerable potential for future mid-air collision at DCA.’
Her issues revolve around Transport Secretary Sean Duffy transferring to restrict helicopter traffic around the area, but that is set to cease at the end of the month.
When cops, medical or governmental transportation helicopters should use the area civilian planes are stopped from remaining in the very same location.
Homendy stated the NTSB is now recommending that the FAA find a ‘permanent service’ for alternate paths for helicopters when two of the airport’s runways are in usage.
Emergency systems react after a traveler aircraft hit 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 also revealed on Tuesday that there was alerting indications in the lead up to the lethal 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 planes getting notifies about helicopters being in close proximity between October 2021 and December 2024.
The NTSB likewise said that there were 85 cases where 2 airplane where laterally split by less than 1,500 feet, and a vertical separation of less than 200 feet.
Homendy added: ‘That information from October 2021 through December 2024, (the FAA) could have utilized that information at any time to figure out that we have a pattern here and a problem here, and looked at that route; that didn’t occur, which is why we’re acting today. But regrettably, individuals lost lives, and enjoyed ones are grieving.’
Sean Duffy slammed these findings at a later interview on Tuesday.
Duffy stated: ‘I think the concern is when this information comes in how did the FAA not understand. How did they not study the information to state “hey, this is a hot spot, 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 focus on something besides security.’
Duffy would later included when questioned by a press reporter about the near misses 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 associated with the crash may have had incorrect elevation readings in the minutes before the crash.
The crash likely happened at an elevation simply under 300 feet, as the aircraft descended towards 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 urgent safety suggestions to limit helicopter traffic near DCA and for its extensive examination.
‘We will continue to coordinate closely with PSA Airlines as it complies as an investigative celebration member.’
The helicopter pilots might have likewise missed part of another communication, 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 going through an annual test and a test on using night vision goggles, Homendy said.
Investigators think the team was using night vision goggles throughout the flight.
The Army has said the Black Hawk team was extremely experienced, and accustomed to the crowded skies around the nation ´ s capital.
At the time of the crash, a single air traffic controller was simultaneously keeping an eye on both the helicopter and aircraft traffic.
Those tasks are usually managed between 2 individuals from 10am till 9:30 pm, according to an early FAA report seen by The New york city Times.
Those jobs are typically managed between two people from 10am till 9:30 pm, according to the report.
Surveillance video taken from inside the airport recorded the minute the 2 clashed in midair
At the time of the crash, a single air traffic controller was all at once keeping an eye on both the helicopter and aircraft traffic. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is seen here
After 9:30 pm the duties are generally integrated and delegated someone as the airport sees less traffic later on in the night.
A manager supposedly chose to integrate those duties before the scheduled cutoff time nevertheless, and permitted one air traffic controller to leave work early.
The FAA report said that staffing setup ‘was not regular for the time of day and volume of traffic’.
Reagan National has actually been understaffed for lots of years, with simply 19 completely accredited controllers since September 2023 – well below the target of 30 – according to the most recent Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan sent to Congress.
The circumstance appeared to have actually 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 nothing brand-new, with widely known causes including high turnover and spending plan cuts.
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In order to fill the gaps, controllers are often asked to work 10-hour days, six 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 unusual. The release of an emergency suggestion asking for the FAA take instant action, before the completion of the NTSB investigation is rare.’
The two airplane had clashed in a huge fireball that was visible 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 February 17, a Delta passenger airplane crashed-landed upside down in disorderly scenes at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada.
Miraculously, everyone on board made it through after being suspended upside-down by their seat belts for several minutes till they tentatively began evacuating.
The airplane had actually been heading to Toronto from Minneapolis – Saint Paul International Airport with 76 travelers and four team members on board.
Some 21 people were taken to the healthcare facility for treatment to minor injuries, and Delta has actually provided everyone a no-strings $30,000 payment in compensation.
And the plane carnage is continuous – on Sunday, yet another jet crash-landed, this time in a parking area of a rural Pennsylvania retirement home.
Dramatic video showed the Beechcraft A36TC appear in flames in the car park of Brethren Village in Manheim Township. Five people were rushed to health center.
Medics, ambulances, and emergency vehicles hurried to the scene in Lancaster County as flames swallowed up the aircraft and close-by cars.
The airplane took off as scheduled on Sunday afternoon, but quickly asked for to land back on the tarmac due to the fact that its door had opened.
American Airlines