How ignored safety warnings led to a fiery crash above the Potomac
The U.S. faced escalating issues such as air traffic controller shortages, rising travel demand, an increase in near-collisions at airports, and complaints regarding congressional dysfunction prior to experiencing its first fatal domestic airline crash since 2009.
TroibNews 
The recent aviation disaster in the United States, marking the worst such event in over twenty years, has arisen amidst ongoing concerns about the nation's esteemed air-safety framework — a situation compounded by a series of narrow escapes before tragedy struck over the Potomac River.
The aftermath of the Covid pandemic exacerbated a long-standing scarcity of air traffic controllers, coinciding with a surge in demand for air travel as passengers returned to the skies. Political conflicts regarding government funding created barriers to training new personnel and updating outdated safety equipment. Compounding these issues, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the key agency involved, often operated without a permanent leader, even as investigators noted a rise in near-collision incidents at airports.
While it may take over a year for authorities to determine the official causes of the crash near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, where an Army Blackhawk helicopter on a routine training mission collided with a passenger jet coming from Wichita, Kansas, a seasoned aviation expert suggested the inquiry would likely focus on issues frequently identified in past close calls, such as fatigue, distraction, and possible miscommunication.
The nation witnessed a significant increase in near-collision events involving commercial flights, with the FAA's database recording five such incidents in 2022 and eleven in 2023 in which at least one passenger aircraft narrowly avoided another aircraft or ground vehicle.
Although 2024 had reported only one serious near-collision classified by aviation regulators, the FAA continued its investigations into other occurrences before the year’s conclusion. Last year, two passenger jets also experienced a near-collision at Reagan National, which the FAA considered less severe.
“We know we have a critical shortage of air traffic controllers, and many of them are forced to work overtime, they'll often work fatigued — that's mostly the fault of Congress,” stated former Rep. Peter DeFazio, an Oregon Democrat who chaired the House Transportation Committee until 2023.
While he added, “I don't know that air traffic control was a problem in this instance,” DeFazio pointed out the ongoing warnings from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which is independently investigating the recent incident. “has been warning about this persistently,” he remarked.
NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy, who has been vocal about the urgent need for improvements, communicated to reporters in late 2023 that the air traffic system was in dire need of enhancements, whether through increased funding for controllers or better technology. “We are sounding the alarm bells, and we need action,” she asserted. Homendy also remarked, “I don't want to hear about summits — goddamn, do something.”
On Thursday, Homendy was present at Reagan National, informing the public that a coordinated government response is in progress to gather evidence regarding the incident. “We’re here to assure the American people that we are going to leave no stone unturned in this investigation,” she emphasized.
Critiques of the air traffic control system’s efficacy have intensified from the airline industry, which has labeled it as “broken.” An independent aviation panel attributed the difficulties faced by the FAA to “recurring gridlock” in Congress, which has hindered the agency’s operations. Furthermore, the FAA has faced scrutiny since 2018 regarding whether it has been sufficiently diligent in its oversight of aircraft manufacturers like Boeing, following a series of fatal incidents overseas and a non-fatal incident involving a plane door near Oregon last year.
In recent months, the FAA has directed its efforts toward addressing workforce shortages, currently facing a shortfall of approximately 3,000 controllers within its staff of about 45,000. This includes initiatives to strengthen the recruitment pipeline through collaborations with educational institutions and enhanced training at its Oklahoma academy. However, officials have acknowledged that substantial progress in staffing will require time.
Questions arose swiftly concerning the actions of both air traffic controllers and the helicopter crew following the recent crash, which reportedly occurred under clear weather conditions. In an audio feed of air traffic control communications prior to the accident, controllers queried the helicopter crew about their visibility of the incoming jet.
According to a preliminary internal FAA report cited by The New York Times, staffing levels at the control tower during the incident were "not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic." Yet, an official familiar with tower operations clarified to PMG that the number of controllers present was adequate, with a supervisor having assigned one controller to manage both airline and helicopter traffic.
“Normally, those tasks are divided among two controllers until after 9:30 p.m.,” noted the official, who requested anonymity due to the ongoing investigation. The collision reportedly took place around 9 p.m.
Authorities indicated Thursday that they anticipate no survivors from either aircraft, which included 60 passengers and four crew members aboard the American Airlines flight and three soldiers on the helicopter.
The FAA stated that the Bombardier CRJ700, operated by PSA Airlines, and the Sikorsky H-60 helicopter collided while the jet was approaching the runway. The regional carrier was acting on behalf of American Airlines.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a former Army helicopter pilot, emphasized that the helicopter's training mission was routine: “It just means that they were out there practicing their craft, doing their jobs like they do every day.” After being briefed by the FAA and NTSB, Duckworth confirmed that the helicopter crew was vigilant in monitoring other aircraft.
“Obviously, you're relying on air traffic control,” she noted, affirming that the crew had been instructed to be aware of the approaching American Airlines flight.
This incident represents the first fatal airliner crash in the U.S. since a 2013 collision involving a South Korean jet in San Francisco that resulted in three teenage deaths, and the first such incident involving a domestic airline since a 2009 crash in Buffalo, New York, which killed 50 people and prompted federally mandated safety reforms. It stands as the deadliest air crash in the U.S. since November 2001, which claimed 260 lives in Belle Harbor, New York, just two months post-9/11.
Overall, the last two decades marked a period of unprecedented safety in U.S. aviation, a trend now in question following this latest catastrophe. Both the FAA and NTSB briefed lawmakers throughout Thursday as elected officials sought to understand the sudden change in this era of relative safety.
“This should’ve never happened, and we wanna understand what happened,” remarked Senate Commerce Committee member Ted Budd.
Even prior to a thorough investigation, former President Donald Trump insinuated that Biden administration diversity policies played a role in the crash, explicitly mentioning former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. Buttigieg, who had previously advocated for investigations into aviation near-collisions, responded on X, labeling Trump’s comments as “despicable.”
Duckworth criticized Trump’s focus on the diversity issue, suggesting that his and Elon Musk’s efforts to downsize the federal workforce were contributing to the existing strain among FAA employees. She highlighted that agency personnel received emails from the White House Office of Personnel Management this week encouraging them to consider resigning.
Those letters reached “some air traffic controllers responsible for airspace in the Northeast region,” Duckworth stated, “basically trying to scare them into quitting at a time when we have a shortage of air traffic controllers. So I don't think the Trump administration is in a strong position right now to start blaming others.”
A former FAA official rejected the idea that the agency’s diversity and inclusion programs had facilitated the hiring of unqualified individuals as air traffic controllers, countering Trump’s assertion that the Biden administration had prioritized candidates with “severe intellectual disabilities” and “psychiatric problems.”
The NTSB is not expected to release its findings about the crash's causes for at least a year, as it investigates communications between the air traffic control tower, the pilots of both aircraft, the planned flight paths, and a range of other factors.
Both pilots and air traffic controllers are subjected to extensive training, often spanning several years. The former FAA official commented that candidates undergo some of the strictest mental and physical evaluations before being hired, with very few applicants advancing to the actual training phase due to the rigorous selection process. This individual was granted anonymity to discuss details related to the ongoing investigation.
However, ongoing staffing shortages have compelled air traffic controllers into overtime work, with the FAA occasionally reallocating controllers to fill gaps in busy airspaces.
Leadership stability at the FAA has also been inconsistent. Former Administrator Mike Whitaker resigned just before Trump’s inauguration after merely a year into a five-year tenure. Subsequently, the agency went through a series of acting leaders over 18 months, which coincided with GOP lawmakers questioning the qualifications of Biden’s initial appointment for the role, Phil Washington, CEO of Denver International Airport.
Following the recent incident, Republican lawmakers hinted that they would await further information before taking any action.
Sen. Jerry Moran expressed uncertainty about the crash's cause but anticipates that the Senate Commerce Committee's aviation panel will take the lead in assessing the NTSB's findings and exploring any necessary legislative adjustments for enhanced public safety.
Democrats, likewise, were short on specific information immediately following the incident.
During a hearing on Thursday, Sen. Richard Blumenthal urged fellow lawmakers to “redouble” their efforts to ensure that the FAA, NTSB, and Transportation Department possess the necessary tools, funding, and resources to avert future tragedies.
Regarding whether he supports reducing flight volumes at Reagan National, a topic revisited last year, Sen. Tim Kaine, who has previously raised concerns about safety amid increasing airport traffic, mentioned that lawmakers would defer to the NTSB’s conclusions. He, along with other D.C.-area officials, had expressed opposition to expanding flight volumes, concerned it would compromise safety by increasing runway congestion despite assurances from the DOT and FAA.
Billy Nolen, who organized a “summit” on near-collisions two years prior as the FAA’s acting administrator, remarked to PMG that the safety record of U.S. air travel remains “highly resilient,” considering the vast number of daily flights alongside various other aerial activities including drones and rockets.
“Since the 2009 crash near Buffalo, 13 to 14 billion people have traveled … without a fatal commercial airline accident in the United States,” Nolen reflected. “I mean think about that number.”
Looking ahead, Nolen stated that the FAA and the broader administration would need to “pick up the pieces and say, ‘OK, let's commit to just using every resource at our disposal to make what is the largest, most complex aviation ecosystem in the world, bar none, be the very best it can be.’”
Sam Ogozalek and Chris Marquette contributed to this report.
Mark B Thomas for TROIB News
The aftermath of the Covid pandemic exacerbated a long-standing scarcity of air traffic controllers, coinciding with a surge in demand for air travel as passengers returned to the skies. Political conflicts regarding government funding created barriers to training new personnel and updating outdated safety equipment. Compounding these issues, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the key agency involved, often operated without a permanent leader, even as investigators noted a rise in near-collision incidents at airports.
While it may take over a year for authorities to determine the official causes of the crash near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, where an Army Blackhawk helicopter on a routine training mission collided with a passenger jet coming from Wichita, Kansas, a seasoned aviation expert suggested the inquiry would likely focus on issues frequently identified in past close calls, such as fatigue, distraction, and possible miscommunication.
The nation witnessed a significant increase in near-collision events involving commercial flights, with the FAA's database recording five such incidents in 2022 and eleven in 2023 in which at least one passenger aircraft narrowly avoided another aircraft or ground vehicle.
Although 2024 had reported only one serious near-collision classified by aviation regulators, the FAA continued its investigations into other occurrences before the year’s conclusion. Last year, two passenger jets also experienced a near-collision at Reagan National, which the FAA considered less severe.
“We know we have a critical shortage of air traffic controllers, and many of them are forced to work overtime, they'll often work fatigued — that's mostly the fault of Congress,” stated former Rep. Peter DeFazio, an Oregon Democrat who chaired the House Transportation Committee until 2023.
While he added, “I don't know that air traffic control was a problem in this instance,” DeFazio pointed out the ongoing warnings from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which is independently investigating the recent incident. “has been warning about this persistently,” he remarked.
NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy, who has been vocal about the urgent need for improvements, communicated to reporters in late 2023 that the air traffic system was in dire need of enhancements, whether through increased funding for controllers or better technology. “We are sounding the alarm bells, and we need action,” she asserted. Homendy also remarked, “I don't want to hear about summits — goddamn, do something.”
On Thursday, Homendy was present at Reagan National, informing the public that a coordinated government response is in progress to gather evidence regarding the incident. “We’re here to assure the American people that we are going to leave no stone unturned in this investigation,” she emphasized.
Critiques of the air traffic control system’s efficacy have intensified from the airline industry, which has labeled it as “broken.” An independent aviation panel attributed the difficulties faced by the FAA to “recurring gridlock” in Congress, which has hindered the agency’s operations. Furthermore, the FAA has faced scrutiny since 2018 regarding whether it has been sufficiently diligent in its oversight of aircraft manufacturers like Boeing, following a series of fatal incidents overseas and a non-fatal incident involving a plane door near Oregon last year.
In recent months, the FAA has directed its efforts toward addressing workforce shortages, currently facing a shortfall of approximately 3,000 controllers within its staff of about 45,000. This includes initiatives to strengthen the recruitment pipeline through collaborations with educational institutions and enhanced training at its Oklahoma academy. However, officials have acknowledged that substantial progress in staffing will require time.
Questions arose swiftly concerning the actions of both air traffic controllers and the helicopter crew following the recent crash, which reportedly occurred under clear weather conditions. In an audio feed of air traffic control communications prior to the accident, controllers queried the helicopter crew about their visibility of the incoming jet.
According to a preliminary internal FAA report cited by The New York Times, staffing levels at the control tower during the incident were "not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic." Yet, an official familiar with tower operations clarified to PMG that the number of controllers present was adequate, with a supervisor having assigned one controller to manage both airline and helicopter traffic.
“Normally, those tasks are divided among two controllers until after 9:30 p.m.,” noted the official, who requested anonymity due to the ongoing investigation. The collision reportedly took place around 9 p.m.
Authorities indicated Thursday that they anticipate no survivors from either aircraft, which included 60 passengers and four crew members aboard the American Airlines flight and three soldiers on the helicopter.
The FAA stated that the Bombardier CRJ700, operated by PSA Airlines, and the Sikorsky H-60 helicopter collided while the jet was approaching the runway. The regional carrier was acting on behalf of American Airlines.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a former Army helicopter pilot, emphasized that the helicopter's training mission was routine: “It just means that they were out there practicing their craft, doing their jobs like they do every day.” After being briefed by the FAA and NTSB, Duckworth confirmed that the helicopter crew was vigilant in monitoring other aircraft.
“Obviously, you're relying on air traffic control,” she noted, affirming that the crew had been instructed to be aware of the approaching American Airlines flight.
This incident represents the first fatal airliner crash in the U.S. since a 2013 collision involving a South Korean jet in San Francisco that resulted in three teenage deaths, and the first such incident involving a domestic airline since a 2009 crash in Buffalo, New York, which killed 50 people and prompted federally mandated safety reforms. It stands as the deadliest air crash in the U.S. since November 2001, which claimed 260 lives in Belle Harbor, New York, just two months post-9/11.
Overall, the last two decades marked a period of unprecedented safety in U.S. aviation, a trend now in question following this latest catastrophe. Both the FAA and NTSB briefed lawmakers throughout Thursday as elected officials sought to understand the sudden change in this era of relative safety.
“This should’ve never happened, and we wanna understand what happened,” remarked Senate Commerce Committee member Ted Budd.
Even prior to a thorough investigation, former President Donald Trump insinuated that Biden administration diversity policies played a role in the crash, explicitly mentioning former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. Buttigieg, who had previously advocated for investigations into aviation near-collisions, responded on X, labeling Trump’s comments as “despicable.”
Duckworth criticized Trump’s focus on the diversity issue, suggesting that his and Elon Musk’s efforts to downsize the federal workforce were contributing to the existing strain among FAA employees. She highlighted that agency personnel received emails from the White House Office of Personnel Management this week encouraging them to consider resigning.
Those letters reached “some air traffic controllers responsible for airspace in the Northeast region,” Duckworth stated, “basically trying to scare them into quitting at a time when we have a shortage of air traffic controllers. So I don't think the Trump administration is in a strong position right now to start blaming others.”
A former FAA official rejected the idea that the agency’s diversity and inclusion programs had facilitated the hiring of unqualified individuals as air traffic controllers, countering Trump’s assertion that the Biden administration had prioritized candidates with “severe intellectual disabilities” and “psychiatric problems.”
The NTSB is not expected to release its findings about the crash's causes for at least a year, as it investigates communications between the air traffic control tower, the pilots of both aircraft, the planned flight paths, and a range of other factors.
Both pilots and air traffic controllers are subjected to extensive training, often spanning several years. The former FAA official commented that candidates undergo some of the strictest mental and physical evaluations before being hired, with very few applicants advancing to the actual training phase due to the rigorous selection process. This individual was granted anonymity to discuss details related to the ongoing investigation.
However, ongoing staffing shortages have compelled air traffic controllers into overtime work, with the FAA occasionally reallocating controllers to fill gaps in busy airspaces.
Leadership stability at the FAA has also been inconsistent. Former Administrator Mike Whitaker resigned just before Trump’s inauguration after merely a year into a five-year tenure. Subsequently, the agency went through a series of acting leaders over 18 months, which coincided with GOP lawmakers questioning the qualifications of Biden’s initial appointment for the role, Phil Washington, CEO of Denver International Airport.
Following the recent incident, Republican lawmakers hinted that they would await further information before taking any action.
Sen. Jerry Moran expressed uncertainty about the crash's cause but anticipates that the Senate Commerce Committee's aviation panel will take the lead in assessing the NTSB's findings and exploring any necessary legislative adjustments for enhanced public safety.
Democrats, likewise, were short on specific information immediately following the incident.
During a hearing on Thursday, Sen. Richard Blumenthal urged fellow lawmakers to “redouble” their efforts to ensure that the FAA, NTSB, and Transportation Department possess the necessary tools, funding, and resources to avert future tragedies.
Regarding whether he supports reducing flight volumes at Reagan National, a topic revisited last year, Sen. Tim Kaine, who has previously raised concerns about safety amid increasing airport traffic, mentioned that lawmakers would defer to the NTSB’s conclusions. He, along with other D.C.-area officials, had expressed opposition to expanding flight volumes, concerned it would compromise safety by increasing runway congestion despite assurances from the DOT and FAA.
Billy Nolen, who organized a “summit” on near-collisions two years prior as the FAA’s acting administrator, remarked to PMG that the safety record of U.S. air travel remains “highly resilient,” considering the vast number of daily flights alongside various other aerial activities including drones and rockets.
“Since the 2009 crash near Buffalo, 13 to 14 billion people have traveled … without a fatal commercial airline accident in the United States,” Nolen reflected. “I mean think about that number.”
Looking ahead, Nolen stated that the FAA and the broader administration would need to “pick up the pieces and say, ‘OK, let's commit to just using every resource at our disposal to make what is the largest, most complex aviation ecosystem in the world, bar none, be the very best it can be.’”
Sam Ogozalek and Chris Marquette contributed to this report.
Mark B Thomas for TROIB News
