DC plane crash: NTSB demands urgent restrictions on helicopter routes near Reagan airport after crash that killed 67
The National Safety Transportation Board has found that helicopter traffic out of Ronald Reagan International Airport posed an 'intolerable risk to aviation safety by increasing the chances of a mid-air collision' ahead of a crash last month that resulted in the deaths of 67 people.
'It is stronger than an oversight,' said NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy at a news conference in Arlington, Virginia, where the DCA airport is located, on Tuesday.
Sixty-seven people were killed on January 29, when an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided with an American Airlines regional jet mid-air over the Potomac River in Washington D.C. American Airlines Flight 5342 was carrying 64 people while on its descent into Ronald Reagan International Airport from Wichita, Kansas, as three soldiers on the helicopter participated in a training mission.
It's believed the service members were traveling above their 200-foot allocated air clearance and wearing night-vision goggles that could have obscured their vision.
Black Hawk helicopters frequently flew along Route 4, an airway spanning from Hains Point to Wilson Bridge, before the U.S. Department of Transportation issued a restriction after the crash, which is in place until March 31st. The agency is now calling on the department to impose those restrictions indefinitely.
'As that deadline nears, we remain concerned about the significant potential for a future mid-air collision at DCA, which is why we are recommending a permanent solution today,' Homendy said. 'We believe a critical safety issue must be addressed without delay.'
Through initial data analysis, investigators determined airport officials had to field one traffic collision alert per month from 2011 to 2024 due to helicopters. Over half of those instances showed helicopters may have been above the route altitude restriction. Two-thirds of the incidents occurred at night.
More recently, from October 2021 through December 2024, there were 15,214 instances of close proximity events between commercial airplanes and helicopters in which there was a lateral separation distance of less than one nautical mile and vertical separation of less than 400 feet. The airport logged 944,179 flights during that time.
The crash marked the first in a series of US aviation disasters at the start of the year. Two days after the incident, a medevac jet crashed in a residential and commercial area of Philadelphia, killing seven people on board, including 11-year-old Valentina Guzmán Murillo and her mother, Lizeth Murillo Osuna, 31.
The pair had just left Shriners Children's Hospital Philadelphia, where Valentina spent five months receiving life-saving treatment.
This is a developing story...
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
%3Amax_bytes(150000)%3Astrip_icc()%2FTAL-lead-image-EMERGENCYEXIT0625-7c5e169571e04144a14046ef2de88d94.jpg&w=3840&q=100)
Travel + Leisure
18 hours ago
- Travel + Leisure
What Would Actually Happen If You Tried to Open the Airplane Emergency Door Mid-flight?
The most important thing in the exit row on a plane isn't the extra legroom—it's the emergency door. These doors are strategically located throughout the aircraft so that passengers can easily evacuate, regardless of whether they're in first class or the last row. The Airbus A380—the world's largest commercial aircraft—has 16 emergency doors. That's approximately one for every 50 passengers. While part of the flight attendant safety speech includes pointing out where the nearest emergency doors can be found, it doesn't include the answer to one burning question. What happens if you try to open the emergency door mid-flight? If you ask American Airlines First Officer Steve Scheibner, nothing would happen if you tried to open the door—because you can't open the emergency door mid-flight. Unless you're capable of lifting 25,000 pounds, it's physically impossible. 'Once this door gets pressurized in flight, it's nine pounds per square inch,' says Scheibner, who goes by Captain Steeeve on TikTok where he has more than 380,000 followers. Another pilot-turned-social media sensation explains it further on YouTube: 'We pressurize our aircraft to a lower altitude so that you guys can breathe,' says Pilot PascalKlr. 'The inside pressure pushes the door in its frame.' Scientists liken it to how a drain plug works. Given the small size of sink and bath drains, it takes a substantial amount of effort to pick them up. Also, most emergency exit doors on planes open inwards. Still, physics isn't the only thing keeping emergency doors closed during flights. On most commercial aircraft, all cabin doors automatically lock once the plane has reached a certain speed. According to Scheibner, it's approximately 80 knots (92 miles per hour). They can't be manually unlocked until the plane slows down again. Obviously, these locks weren't customary back in 1971 when the infamous 'D.B. Cooper' parachuted out of a Boeing 727's rear door with $200,000 in cash somewhere over southeastern Washington. In fact, because hijacking passenger planes was common in the late '60s and early '70s, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) amended their safety regulations in 1972 and started requiring large passenger aircraft exits to be designed so that they can't be opened during flight. Exit sign in an airplane. Margot Cavin/Travel + Leisure Even though it's not possible to open an emergency door mid-flight, people have tried. In fact, every year passengers make headlines for trying to do so. A few weeks ago, an All Nippon Airways flight from Tokyo to Houston was diverted to Seattle after an unruly passenger kept trying to open the emergency doors. Cabin crew and fellow passengers managed to restrain him using zip ties. Upon landing in Seattle, the passenger was handed over to the local police and FBI. And when an American Airlines passenger on a flight from Albuquerque to Chicago tried to open an emergency door 20 minutes into their flight last year, the plane returned to Albuquerque where law enforcement was waiting. If the plane isn't far from its final destination, it will usually try to land there. That's what happened on another American Airlines flight in 2024 when a passenger flying from Milwaukee to Dallas attempted to open an emergency door mid-flight. A flight attendant was injured in the process, and the man was charged with a federal crime. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison. At the very least, trying to open an emergency door mid-flight is a great way to get yourself on the dreaded no-fly list. While most passengers who try to open emergency doors fail, at least one appears to have succeeded. In 2023, a passenger on an Asiana flight about to land in Daegu, South Korea allegedly opened the emergency door he was sitting next to. The plane was more than 700 feet off the ground at the time. While the plane was able to safely land, and no one was seriously injured, 12 people went to the hospital and were treated for hyperventilation. 'The wind was stinging my legs and hitting my face so hard I couldn't even breathe properly,' the passenger sitting next to him recalled in an interview with CNN. Asiana immediately launched an investigation to see how the door was able to be opened. It also issued a statement saying it would stop selling certain exit row seats on its Airbus A321-200 aircraft. But this doesn't exactly mean that sitting next to an emergency door is dangerous. On the contrary, some experts say the exit row boasts the safest seats on the plane. 'If there was a seat that was safer, being close to an emergency exit increases the chance of getting out quicker,' Cary Grant, an assistant professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's College of Aviation, previously told T+L.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Skydiving Plane Carrying 20 People Crashes in Tennessee
A small plane used for skydiving crashed near Tullahoma Regional Airport in Tennessee on June 8 Twenty people were on the plane, and no casualties have been reported, a spokesperson for the city of Tullahoma told PEOPLE 'There are some minor injuries. The scene is being secured by local authorities while FAA officials are en route to continue the investigation,' the spokesperson addedA small plane used for skydiving has crashed in Tennessee. The plane crashed soon after it left Tullahoma Regional Airport at around 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 8, according to Lyle Russell, a spokesperson for the city of Tullahoma, which is about 75 miles south of Nashville. The spokesperson said in a statement to PEOPLE that 20 people, including crew members and passengers, were aboard the aircraft when it crashed. "There were no casualties," Russell said. "There are some minor injuries. The scene is being secured by local authorities while FAA officials are en route to continue the investigation." The Tennessee Highway Patrol said on social media that several of those people were airlifted to nearby hospitals and that the plane landed near the town's Old Shelbyville Road. 'Three were sent for medical treatment via helicopter and one sent by ground transport for more serious injuries to local hospitals," Russell said. "Other minor injuries were treated by first responders on scene.' 'The plane involved was a skydiving plane, a DeHaviland DH-6 Twin Otter,' Russell added. 'No ground facilities or airport facilities were damaged and there were no injuries were reported from the ground." Social media footage shared by the highway patrol shows the small plane broken down with lots of parts missing as it sits in an open grassy field. Law enforcement vehicles and fire trucks can be seen surrounding the plane, which seemingly had part of its wings snapped off in the crash. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. This crash comes amid of concerns about plane crashes in the U.S., following a number of both private and commercial crashes this year. One of the most significant of these came in January, when American Airlines Flight 5342 and an Army helicopter collided over the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., killing 67 people. Read the original article on People
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
After an American Airlines plane caught fire, the National Transportation Safety Board finds engine parts installed backward
On March 13, an American Airlines flight was diverted from its destination after the flight crew reported engine vibrations, and its engine caught fire once it landed. The National Transportation Safety Board said in a report this week the engine leaked fuel because of loose and improperly installed parts. Despite numerous reported aviation safety incidents, air travel is safer than it was decades ago, experts say. An American Airlines engine that burst into flames after its aircraft was diverted in March was found to have fuel leaks and improperly installed parts, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a report released Thursday. The NTSB identified a damaged fan blade on the right side of the two-engine jet, as well as a loose airflow control component that was installed backward and a loose rod end that caused fuel to leak from the fitting. The report did not give a reason for the fire, as the NTSB has not yet finished its investigation on the incident. The purpose of the document is to find the root cause of the incident, not assign blame for it. On March 13, Flight 1006 en route from the Colorado Springs Airport to Dallas Fort Worth International Airport diverted to Denver International Airport after the flight crew reported engine vibrations. The Boeing 737-823 aircraft caught fire while taxiing to the gate, incurring 'substantial damage,' according to the report. 'They thought they had what we would call the degraded engine,' Cary Grant, an associate professor of aeronautical science at Embry‑Riddle Aeronautical University, told Fortune. 'It wasn't performing. It wasn't a failed engine, but it wasn't providing all the thrust and capability that it could produce.' The jet was carrying two flight crew members, four cabin crew members, and 172 passengers, 12 of whom were hospitalized for minor injuries. According to the report, gate ramp personnel extinguished the fire on the right side of the plane one minute after it began. Passengers evacuated the aircraft onto the left overwing and a slide from the jet's right door. NTSB's photos of the evacuated aircraft show burn marks and damage from the jet's right wing, main landing gear, and landing gear wheel well. 'The safety of our customers and team members is our top priority, and we are cooperating with the National Transportation Safety Board in its investigation of American Airlines flight 1006,' an American Airlines spokesperson told Fortune in a statement. The March flight diversion was one of several highly scrutinized aviation safety incidents early in the year. In January, an American Airlines jet collided with an Army helicopter in Washington, D.C., killing 67 people. Later that month, a small, private plane crashed in Northeast Philadelphia, resulting in multiple deaths. Most recently, Newark Liberty International Airport experienced a series of radio outages, which resulted in a slew of flight delays and cancellations. These incidents can have financial repercussions for airlines. American Airlines reported in its first-quarter earnings challenges to resuscitate its corporate travel business as a result of 'economic uncertainty that pressured domestic leisure demand and the tragic accident of American Eagle Flight 5342,' referring to the January incident. Despite the multiple safety blunders, aviation experts maintain it is still safe to fly. Boeing—though it has struggled in the past couple of years with safety concerns—reported a significant decline in fatalities in 2024, saying there has been a 40% decline in total accident rates and 65% decline in fatal accident rates in the past 20 years, while the number of flights has increased 20% in that same time period. Grant said the engine issues with Flight 1006 are rare, speaking to the dependability of its CFM56-7B engine. 'The engine is extremely reliable,' he said. 'The fact that we don't see situations like this occurring frequently is testament to the reliability of the motors. It's an extremely reliable part.' He maintains the flight crew did what was 'reasonably expected' of them, given the information they had at the time—especially since they had to evacuate passengers from the jet when it was taxiing at a gate, a situation that usually necessitates deplaning procedures. Combined with statistics that aviation accidents have actually decreased, the rarity of the engine degradation points to the continued security of air travel, Grant said. 'If we go back and look from the '50s on to where we're at today, the accident trend is very, very small compared to the hundreds of thousands, millions of hours of flight time that are being flown every year,' he said. 'The data does not support that air travel is riskier. It's actually just the opposite.' This story was originally featured on
