A former air traffic controller is speaking out about a midair crash that killed 67 people back in 2025. In January 2025, an American Airlines plane crashed into a Army helicopter.
Now, the air traffic controller is saying there were "obvious holes" in the system at the time. She said that the air traffic control was being stretched thin at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
"The warning signs were all there," Emily Hanoka told CBS 60 Minutes. "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."
Hanoka had finished her shift hours before the American Airlines crash killed 67. She said safety changes didn't address the real issues.
Former Air Traffic Controller Speaks Out
"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," she said.
Air traffic control had to keep the airport running with hundreds of flights every day. Planes were landing and taking off within seconds of each other on one runway.
"Some hours are overloaded, to the point where it's over the capacity that the airport can handle," she said. "There was definitely a pressure. If you do not move planes, you will gridlock the airport. This is what has to happen, in order to make this airspace work. And it did work. It worked until it didn't. There were obvious cracks in the system, there were obvious holes."
On that fateful day, the American Airlines flight collided with a Black Hawk helicopter. It killed everyone on board both crafts.
"The tragedy over the Potomac one year ago revealed a startling truth: years of warning signs were missed, and the FAA needed dire reform," Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said.
