The Federal Aviation Administration is opening an investigation after two American Airlines jets clipped wings Thursday on a taxiway at Reagan National Airport.
It is the latest incident at the crowded airport in what has been a very high-profile and deadly two and a half months.
Flight 5490 was headed to Charleston, South Carolina, while flight 4522 was headed to JFK International Airport in New York with seven members of Congress from the New York-New Jersey area onboard.
“BlueStreak 5490, did we hit the aircraft next to us?” one of the pilots flying is heard asking the tower in air traffic control audio captured by the website LiveATC.net
BlueStreak is the call sign for PSA Airlines, which operated the flight for American Airlines. The other plane was operated by Republic Airways.
“We think we might have hit the (Embraer) 175 short of (runway) 19,” the pilot said. “We just heard a loud, like a boom, like a thunk, before we took the runway.”
The FAA confirmed what took place a short time later. “The wingtip of American Airlines Flight 5490 struck American Airlines Flight 4522 on a taxiway … around 12:45 p.m.,” the agency said in a statement.
Republican Rep. Nick LaLota, of New York, posted on the social media platform X that everyone on his plane was all right, and that flight 4522 was struck as they waited to take off.
“Serving in Congress has come with some once in a lifetime experience … like just now while stationary on the runway at DCA, another plane just bumped into our wing,” LaLota said, referring to Reagan National.
Aviation safety investigator Jeff Guzzetti said this latest incident is again raising questions about the safety of the airport.
“To have two airplanes clip wings on an active taxiway is concerning. That taxiway is controlled by air traffic controllers and ground control, but still, you know it’s up to the pilots to see and avoid,” he said.
Guzzetti runs his own independent aviation safety consulting company after working as an investigator at both the National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA.
“It’s congested airspace. It’s probably a tough place to work in that tower and hopefully the Feds will take any corrective action that is needed,” he said.
Earlier this month, the FAA announced it plans to increase the number of control supervisors at DCA from six to eight and is currently reviewing the airport’s arrival rate. The FAA is also undertaking a top-level management change.
According to CBS News, Tim Arel, the head of the Air Traffic Organization, is taking early retirement as part of a series of buyouts at the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Arel has been with the FAA for four decades and had planned to retire at the end of the year, but the agency said he will depart in the coming months to ensure a smooth transition, the FAA said in a statement.
This incident comes two and a half months after a fatal midair collision that killed 67 people. An Army Black Hawk helicopter struck an inbound American Airlines regional jet over the Potomac River on the night of Jan. 29 as it prepared to land on Runway 33.
Additionally, last month, another near midair incident over Arlington National Cemetery unfolded when four Army T-38 aircraft came too close to a departing Delta jet. That incident is also under investigation.
“The airport has just overgrown itself because it’s very popular, very convenient, but it’s very congested,” Guzzetti said. “They’re certainly under the white-hot spotlight of scrutiny right now.
“Thank God no one was hurt 鈥� that’s the important thing,” Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., told 海角精品黑料. He has been one of several area members of Congress opposing the expansion of flights into and out of DCA.
“You can’t keep cramming flights into National. Then you have this administration that has been reckless on cutting air traffic controllers and FAA safety personnel. Will it take another tragedy before this administration acknowledges you can’t cut the air traffic controllers and the safety personnel without putting people in danger? Maybe the members of Congress will get religion now, too.”
CNN, CBS News and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
漏 2025 海角精品黑料. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
