This satellite image released by Maxar Technologies shows an overview of the area near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and the Potomac River on January 30, 2025, one day after American Airlines flight 5342 collided with a US Army helicopter as the passenger jet approached the runway to land. Divers pulled bodies from the icy waters of Washington’s Potomac River Thursday after a US military helicopter collided midair with a passenger plane carrying 64 people, with officials saying there were likely no survivors. (Photo by HANDOUT / Maxar Technologies / AFP)
NEW YORK, United States — Staffing in the air traffic control tower at Washington’s Reagan National Airport was “not normal” at the time of the deadly crash between a passenger jet and an army helicopter, US media reported Thursday.
Staffing was “not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic” said an internal preliminary Federal Aviation Administration safety report about the collision, The New York Times reported.
“The controller who was handling helicopters in the airport’s vicinity Wednesday night was also instructing planes that were landing and departing from its runways,” the report said.
“Those jobs typically are assigned to two controllers, rather than one.”
The National Transportation Safety Board said it not would determine the cause of the incident nor would it speculate until its investigation was complete, NTSB safety board member Todd Inman said at a briefing Thursday.
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The collision occurred late evening on Wednesday as the airliner came into land after a routine flight from Wichita, Kansas.
Reagan National is a major airport located a short distance from downtown Washington, the White House, and the Pentagon. The airspace is extremely busy, with civilian and military aircraft almost constantly moving in the area.
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