DC air traffic controller reveals ‘obvious cracks in the system’ before midair collision that killed 67 people

Published: 05:19, 30 March 2026 | Updated: 07:15, 30 March 2026

A former Washington DC-area air traffic controller has spoken out about the 'obvious cracks in the system' that existed [2]when an American Airlines [3] plane and Black Hawk helicopter collided last year.

The flight was traveling above Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in DC on January 29, 2025 when it crashed into the Army Blackhawk helicopter in mid-air, killing all 67 passengers onboard the flight.

But Emily Hanoka said she had seen problems at the congested airport long before her shift that night, which ended just a few hours before the fatal collision.

'There were obvious cracks in the system, there were obvious holes,' she told 60 Minutes' Sharyn Alfonsi in an interview that aired Sunday night.

'You had frontline controllers ringing that bell for years and years, saying, "This is not safe. This cannot continue. Please change this." And that didn't happen.'

In a report released earlier this year,[4] the National Transportation Safety Board confirmed that between 2021 to 2024, 85 near mid-air collisions between helicopters and commercial planes at the airport were reported to the FAA.

60 Minutes also obtained records that show that just one day before the fatal collision, two separate passenger jets had to take sudden action to avoid colliding with Army helicopters.

'The warning signs were all there,' Hanoka said. 'Controllers formed local safety councils and every time that a controller made these safety reports, another controller was compiling data to back up the recommendation.

And many recommendations were made and they never went too far.'

Emily Hanoka, a former air traffic controller at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, spoke out about the 'cracks in the system' that existed before a fatal crash last year

An American Airlines flight and a Black Hawk helicopter collided over Reagan National Airport last year

Part of the problem, Hanoka said, is that Reagan National Airport is owned by the federal government - and Congress decides how many flights can take off from the airport each day.

Since 2000, lawmakers added at least 50 flights a day to the airport's roster and approved another 10 in 2024.

Reagan National Airport now transports 25 million passengers each year, 10 million more than its intended capacity.

'Some hours are overloaded, to the point where it's over the capacity that the airport can handle,' Hanoka said, adding that there was 'definitely pressure to get planes out.

'I you do not move planes, you will get gridlock at the airport,' she explained.

Making matters even more complicated, airspace is restricted over the White House, the US Capitol and other government buildings, funneling planes and helicopters into the same narrow corridor over the Potomac River.

There are also only three short runways at Reagan that all interconnect, with the airport's Runway 1 ranking as the busiest in the country, with more than 800 flights a day, or roughly one every minute.

To meet the demand, Hanoka said air traffic controllers relied on what they called 'squeeze play,' which she said is 'dependent on an aircraft rolling, an aircraft slowing and you know it's gonna be a very close operation.'

Hanoka revealed how there are only three short runways at the airport, which all interconnect

Airspace is restricted over the White House, the US Capitol and other government buildings, funneling planes and helicopters into the same narrow corridor over the Potomac River

That is not a common practice at other airports, she noted.

'So you'll get new controllers come in, so they've transferred from other facilities and they'll look at the operation and say, "Absolutely not,"' Hanoka said.

'And they'll withdraw from training. And that, when I was there was about 50 percent... About half of the people that walked in the building to train would say "Absolutely not."'

'It was surprising, walking into that work environment, how close aircraft were,' Hanoka continued. 'This is what has to happen, in order to make this airspace work.

'And it did work,' she noted. 'It worked until it didn't.'

In January, the NTSB determined that the mid-air crash was preventable as it cited 'systemic failures,' including ignored warning signs about the risks and a 'helicopter route' that was designed so poorly that in some parts of the sky, it allowed for just '75 feet of vertical separation' between helicopters and passenger jets.

The crash marked the deadliest commercial aviation accident in the US in almost 25 years

All 67 passengers onboard the American Airlines flight were killed

The night of the crash, which became the deadliest commercial aviation accident in the US in almost 25 years, investigators said the Black Hawk crew was relying solely on 'visual separation' - looking out the window to avoid nearby passenger jets.

The Black Hawk was then flying 78 feet higher than it should have been as the Army pilots turned off a system that would have broadcast the helicopter's location more clearly.

The pilots had decided not to use anti-collision technology known as Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast, or ADS-B, on its Black Hawk helicopter, which could have prevented the collision in accordance with a Federal Aviation Administration memorandum that allowed it to be turned off.

The NTSB also presented 'major discrepancies' in the helicopter's altitude readouts that could have led the soldiers on board to believe they were flying lower over the Potomac River than they actually were, reports CNN [5].

The agency further noted that the American Airlines flight made a left turn to line up with the runway at Ronald Reagan Airport, which put it on a collision course with the helicopter approaching from its right.

An animation showing the view from inside the jet's cockpit, meanwhile, showed pilots were dealing with dark skies and landing with the help of night-vision, while air traffic controllers failed to warn them they were on course to hit the helicopter.

The chopper then appeared suddenly to the left of the plane's windshield, hitting the jet in a flash and without offering any time for the pilots to swerve out of the way.

The wreckage from the American Airlines flight is seen being pulled from the water

Following the crash, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) made a number of changes to ensure helicopters and planes no longer share the airspace above Ronald Reagan Airport in Washington DC.

It moved some helicopter routes away from the airport and ended the use of visual separation, a ban which has since been extended to busy airports across the country.

The NTSB has also suggested 50 other safety recommendations to prevent similar accidents.

'The ATC tower the entire time was saying, "We have a real safety problem here," and nobody was listening,' NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy told 60 Minutes.

'It was like somebody was asleep at the switch or didn't want to act.

It's a bureaucratic nightmare.'

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy echoed those remarks in his own statement.

'On the ninth day of this administration, the tragedy of Flight AA5342 revealed a startling truth: years of warning signs were missed and the FAA needed dire reform,' he told 60 Minutes [6]. 'It set the course for President Trump and I's mission to bolster safety and revolutionize our skies.'

He added that he has since helped secure more than £12 billion to 'aggressively overhaul our air traffic control system.'

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford also said last year's crash 'is a sobering reminder of why the FAA exists and it galvanized us to pursue our safety mission with renewed urgency and bold action.

'We remain focused on identifying and addressing safety risks across the national airspace and strengthening our workforce so the FAA can deliver the world's safest, most modern and most resilient aviation administration for the American people.'

The report comes amid the NTSB investigation into a fatal crash at LaGuardia Airport earleir this month

In that case, Air Canada Express Flight 646 from Montreal had been cleared to land at the same time a fire truck was cleared to cross to respond to a report of a 'foul odor' coming from another plane

Yet more than one year after the fatal collision, nearly one-third of controller positions at the airport remain unfilled.

60 Minutes also found at least four near-misses between commercial jets and helicopters at the airport since the fatal collision.

The report come amid an investigation into the fatal crash [7] of an Air Canada flight that collided into a fire truck as it landed at New York City's LaGuardia Airport earlier this month.

In that case, Air Canada [8] Express Flight 646 from Montreal had been cleared to land at the same time a fire truck was cleared to cross to respond to a report of a 'foul odor' coming from another plane.

A review of government records by CNN [9]has since revealed that NASA [10]'s Aviation Safety Reporting System received dozens of pilot complaints about safety concerns at New York City [11]'s airport.

During the two years before the deadly crash, numerous reports flagged close calls at LaGuardia and warned of its dangerous pace, according to the outlet.

Last summer, a pilot wrote 'Please do something' in a report regarding a narrowly avoided incident after air traffic controllers failed to disclose that other aircraft were nearby.

An additional report compared the pace of operations at New York City's airport during severe weather conditions with that at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

'On thunderstorm days, LGA is starting to feel like DCA did before the accident there,' noted a pilot.

American Airlines Washington DC [12][13]

References

^ MELISSA KOENIG, US REPORTER (www.dailymail.co.uk)
^ 'obvious cracks in the system' that existed (www.dailymail.co.uk)
^ American Airlines (www.dailymail.co.uk)
^ report released earlier this year, (www.dailymail.co.uk)
^ CNN (www.cnn.com)
^ told 60 Minutes (www.cbsnews.com)
^ investigation into the fatal crash (www.dailymail.co.uk)
^ Canada (www.dailymail.co.uk)
^ CNN (www.cnn.com)
^ NASA (www.dailymail.co.uk)
^ New York City (www.dailymail.co.uk)
^ American Airlines (www.dailymail.co.uk)
^ Washington DC (www.dailymail.co.uk)