# Passenger plane crashes near DC-area’s Reagan Airport {Jan 29, 2025} **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Tags:** breaking-news\ **Created:** [January 30, 2025, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passenger-plane-crashes-near-dc-area-s-reagan-airport-jan-29-2025/1013602 "2025-01-30T03:13:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passenger-plane-crashes-near-dc-area-s-reagan-airport-jan-29-2025/1013602/265 "2025-07-30T16:16:43Z")
If anyone is interested in summarized live updates of the hearings see: > **[Live Updates: NTSB investigative hearing on DCA mid-air collision](https://theaircurrent.com/feed/dispatches/live-updates-ntsb-investigative-hearing-on-dca-mid-air-collision/)** > > Air safety investigators conduct three-day hearing to gather sworn testimony regarding January’s D.C. midair collision ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passenger-plane-crashes-near-dc-area-s-reagan-airport-jan-29-2025/1013602/266 "2025-07-30T17:08:42Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > A public hearing to investigate a plane crash? Oh good, we’ll find out that the plane crashed when the chemtrail dispenser exploded. Public hearings are 100% standard at NTSB. The point is to conduct as much of the people-side of the investigation out in public view as possible. And to have the technical experts explain their results in public too. It can be a bit of a show trial, but the idea is good. Although I like your counterfactual of asking the general lay public to provide their pet theories for what happened. Maybe they could do some kind of crowdsourced survey and publish the top 10 most popular ideas. 😁 🤪 Like > They were spraying chemtrails too close to Area 51 and so the aliens kept there flew their saucer out to perform anal probing of the crew who got so distracted from flying that they lost control of the jet. Oops. But they died happy. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passenger-plane-crashes-near-dc-area-s-reagan-airport-jan-29-2025/1013602/267 "2025-07-30T17:11:06Z")
All that would determine is that the aircraft should have been named Crashy McCrashface. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2025, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passenger-plane-crashes-near-dc-area-s-reagan-airport-jan-29-2025/1013602/268 "2025-07-31T02:26:44Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > They were spraying chemtrails too close to Area 51 and so the aliens kept there flew their saucer out to perform anal probing of the crew who got so distracted from flying that they lost control of the jet. Oops. But they died happy. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/DXRslcMsGlQ/maxresdefault.jpg "Who Killed JFK Today") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXRslcMsGlQ) ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2025, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passenger-plane-crashes-near-dc-area-s-reagan-airport-jan-29-2025/1013602/269 "2025-08-02T17:56:50Z")
NPR’s key takeaways from the hearings: [https://www.npr.org/2025/08/01/nx-s1-5490426/dca-midair-collision-ntsb-hearing-plane-black-hawk-helicopter](https://www.npr.org/2025/08/01/nx-s1-5490426/dca-midair-collision-ntsb-hearing-plane-black-hawk-helicopter) For my part, I am particularly unsurprised by this: > The Army helicopter’s altimeter may have been wrong — and that wasn’t unusual Although that is specifically referring to the barometric altimeter, and it’s not clear (to me, anyway) why the helicopter’s flight crew would have been relying on the barometric altimeter at all at that altitude and with the need for such precise navigation around the airport. And I think comments like this: > “You just told me, I believe, all of the equipment in this manufacturing process is within the tolerances for safety. How much is that tolerance?” Inman asked. “I think it should be zero.” Are evince a serious misunderstanding of how engineering works. Because at the end of the day, I don’t see this as being a problem with an altimeter, I see this as a problem with how the FAA utterly failed to ensure that helicopter flight paths would be safely clear of commercial flight paths going into Reagan. When a known (and eminently tolerable) instrument error contributes to a collision, you don’t blame the engineering, you blame whoever planned the flight routes without taking instrument error into account. Anyone who tells you they’ve got a piece of equipment that works with 100% accuracy and 100% precision 100% of the time isn’t an engineer, they’re a snake oil salesman. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2025, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passenger-plane-crashes-near-dc-area-s-reagan-airport-jan-29-2025/1013602/270 "2025-08-02T18:13:35Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > Anyone who tells you they’ve got a piece of equipment that works with 100% accuracy and 100% precision 100% of the time isn’t an engineer, they’re a snake oil salesman. Devlin-MacGregor’s heart drug Provasic (in the movie _The Fugitive_) was fantastically effective _with absolutely no side effects_.\* \*the loud, annoying laughter theater patrons heard following that line was from physicians in the audience. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2025, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passenger-plane-crashes-near-dc-area-s-reagan-airport-jan-29-2025/1013602/271 "2025-08-28T23:06:26Z")
I’m not entirely sure that this is related to the OP but the GAO is telling Congress that there’s an emergency situation with the number of meteorologists employed to keep all the planes flying, safely: [https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-25-108597.pdf](https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-25-108597.pdf) Looking at their map, I might avoid flying in/out of San Francisco, if it’s not an emergency. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2025, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passenger-plane-crashes-near-dc-area-s-reagan-airport-jan-29-2025/1013602/272 "2025-08-29T00:51:12Z")
SFO is prone to fog but not otherwise dynamic hard to predict conditions. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2025, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passenger-plane-crashes-near-dc-area-s-reagan-airport-jan-29-2025/1013602/273 "2025-12-11T00:56:30Z")
Ever since the crash happened my feeling has been that if some Congress critters had died in the crash, Congress would take it seriously. But none did, so they haven’t. > In an unusually harsh rebuke, the nation’s top safety investigator voiced concerns about a provision in the defense policy bill before Congress on Wednesday, warning that it would undermine aviation safety improvements made after a [deadly mid-air collision](https://www.npr.org/2025/08/01/nx-s1-5490426/dca-midair-collision-ntsb-hearing-plane-black-hawk-helicopter) in January. > > “It’s a safety whitewash,” National Safety Transportation Board chair Jennifer Homendy told reporters. “If it sounds like I’m mad, I am mad. This is shameful.” > > Homendy said the NTSB “vehemently” opposes a section in the massive National Defense Authorization Act that would roll back safety improvements that were [recommended by the agency](https://www.ntsb.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/NR20250311.aspx) after the collision of a military Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines regional jet near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, killing 67 people. **NTSB warns that defense bill could undermine aviation safety changes after DCA crash** [https://www.npr.org/2025/12/10/nx-s1-5640050/ntsb-defense-bill-safety-concerns](https://www.npr.org/2025/12/10/nx-s1-5640050/ntsb-defense-bill-safety-concerns) Her letter is at: > **[National Defense Authorization Act](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/26367546-national-defense-authorization-act/)** ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2026, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passenger-plane-crashes-near-dc-area-s-reagan-airport-jan-29-2025/1013602/274 "2026-02-09T22:58:04Z")
Anyone else thinking about this again while watching the Olympic skating? There’s a large portion of the next generation of skaters that we lost. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2026, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passenger-plane-crashes-near-dc-area-s-reagan-airport-jan-29-2025/1013602/275 "2026-10-08T17:43:58Z")
The military did its own report. I have not been able to find it–could someone else? Here is the [MSN.com](http://MSN.com) unpaywalled repost of Washington Post article which summazed it: **Army report cites systemic flaws that led to fatal DCA midair collision** > **[MSN](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/army-report-cites-systemic-flaws-that-led-to-fatal-dca-midair-collision/ar-AA2dPwzc)** ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2026, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passenger-plane-crashes-near-dc-area-s-reagan-airport-jan-29-2025/1013602/276 "2026-10-09T00:46:50Z")
Politico had a link to the report memorandum. (PDF) [https://www.politico.com/f/?id=000001a1-1bec-d058-adf3-3bec0dca0000](https://www.politico.com/f/?id=000001a1-1bec-d058-adf3-3bec0dca0000) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passenger-plane-crashes-near-dc-area-s-reagan-airport-jan-29-2025/1013602.md?page=13)