As the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) uncovered during the course of its investigation into the tragic midair collision between a CRJ700 and a Sikorsky UH-60L at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) on January 29, 2025, which claimed the lives of 67 people, there were countless known vulnerabilities in the various layers of defense surrounding the complex airspace around DCA prior to this accident. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had access to numerous subjective and objective data sources, but as the investigation revealed, there was limited access to and use of these data, which hindered both industry and government stakeholders' ability to identify hazards and mitigate risk. This presentation will identify those layers that failed, how they failed, and the NTSB’s recommendations to ensure those failures are not replicated anywhere in the National Airspace System. The presentation will also include lessons learned for all operators in congested airspace, along with an in-depth discussion on the importance of proper data analysis within organizations and at the FAA.

Speaker:
Michael Graham, Board Member, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)