Politicians Warned About Dangers Presented by Reagan Airport Months Before American Airlines Crash
American Airlines flight 5342 collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter on its approach to the airport on Wednesday, Jan. 29
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Ronald Reagan Washington National AirportAn American Airlines plane collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter on its approach to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday, Jan. 29
On the morning of Jan. 30, authorities said a search and rescue operation for the passengers had turned to a "recovery operation" and they didn't "believe there are any survivors"
Several politicians had warned about the dangers presented by the airport months before the collision over the Potomac River
Political leaders had warned about the dangers presented by Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport months before American Airlines flight 5342 collided mid-air with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter on its approach to the airport.
Authorities have said they “don’t believe there are any survivors” from the crash, which occurred at around 9 p.m. local time on Wednesday, Jan. 29.
The aircraft was carrying 60 passengers and four crew members, according to a statement from American Airlines. The flight had departed from Wichita, Kansas. CNN reported that the military helicopter had three soldiers onboard, bringing the total number of potential casualties to 67.
Last year, U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine of Virginia joined U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland in opposing the expansion of flights at the airport, calling the measure a “reckless decision” that was “gambling” with “safety.”
The politicians began to push back before the passage of the bipartisan Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act of 2024, according to The Wichita Eagle.
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Emergency responders search the waters of the Potomac River following the collision on Jan. 29They filed an amendment to exclude the addition of the flights, per the outlet, but the bill was passed in May 2024, according to a press release from the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
The bill added five slots to Reagan National Airport's daily schedule and was approved by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) months before the crash, per Newsweek.
“We are deeply disappointed by the Senate Commerce Committee’s move to overburden DCA,” Warner, Cardin, Van Hollen and Kaine said in a joint statement in February 2024, referencing Reagan National's airport code. “With this profoundly reckless decision, the Committee is gambling with the safety of everyone who uses this airport. As we have said countless times before, DCA’s runway is already the busiest in the country. Forcing the airport to cram additional flights in its already crowded schedule will further strain its resources at a time when air traffic controllers are overburdened and exhausted, working 10-hour days, six days a week.”
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Sen. Tim KaineBefore the bill was signed into law by former President Joe Biden, Kaine, 66, shared his fears over the potential for collisions at the airport if more flights were added to its schedule.
"God forbid waking up and looking in a mirror one day and say, 'Wow, I was warned. I was warned and I shouldn't have done this,' " he told reporters last year, according to Newsweek.
"You're going to do it to convenience a few dozen members [of Congress] … at the expense of everybody who lives around this airport who would potentially be victimized if there was some kind of a collision," Kaine continued.
"You're also increasing a safety risk because when you have one plane taking off or landing every minute, while other planes are circling, especially in very constricted air space, like DC's airspace, you run the risk of serious challenge,” Kaine added. “When you hear an air traffic controller having to shout 'stop, stop' to get two jets trying to use this main runway to stop within 300 feet of each other. This is a flashing, red warning sign telling everyone that this airport is already overburdened and you shouldn't do more."
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Rescue crews search the Potomac RiverIn late May 2024, the same month the bill was passed, Kaine also commented on two planes nearly colliding at the airport on social media, according to The Wichita Star.
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“This incident underscores again that DCA is at capacity,” Kaine wrote in a post on X. “This shows why Senate action to jam even more flights into DCA was so dangerous. The FAA must resist any new flights that compromise safety.”
Laurie Garrow, an aviation expert at Georgia Tech University, tells PEOPLE that Reagan National is “a very difficult airport to fly into and get out of.”
“The way I like to think about it is you can almost think about there's lanes in the sky that you need to stay to. And in D.C., those lanes are very narrow because we have a lot of buildings that are close by the airport,” she says.
“So it's very common that aircraft are going on the Potomac, but that probably also creates more congestion and things to manage, particularly if you're mixing commercial and military operations.”
According to Newsweek, the main runway at Reagan National is the busiest in the country and handles 90 percent of the airport's flights.
• Additional reporting by Wendy Grossman Kantor
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