In the aftermath of the Jan. 29 fatal midair collision near Reagan National Airport, two Virginia congressional leaders discussed on Friday the ways to make the airport and the entire national aviation network safer.
But Virginia Sen. Mark Warner and Rep. Don Beyer, who represents the state’s 8th District, acknowledged during a roundtable discussion in Alexandria that it will require leadership from government officials and some new regulations about operations around the highly congested airspace around Reagan National.
Many federal agencies have agreed that the airspace around Reagan is among the most complicated and congested in the country. Beyer said part of the challenge is that Reagan is operating at 40% above its designed capacity.
“Every time we board a plane, we have to trust that we built a system that is going to get us there,” he said. “The airport was designed for 14 million passengers, and it is doing 25 million per year, and the busiest runway in the United States.”
Beyer said he is frustrated that the Army is blocking his request to open an investigation into the Jan. 29 crash, despite a bipartisan request by at least two dozen senators.
He plans to submit legislation to force the Army to do that, and Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has also proposed a similar bill to look into what Cruz calls “systemic breakdowns” that could have been a factor in the nation’s deadliest aviation crash in more than 20 years.
Sixty-four passengers and crew members on an American Airlines regional jet and three crew members in an Army Black Hawk helicopter died when the Black Hawk hit the jet as the passenger plane was on its final approach to Reagan National. Both aircraft plunged into the icy waters of the Potomac River.
Both Warner and Beyer have been longtime opponents of adding flights at Reagan and they fought a measure in the last Congress to add five more long-distance flights from the airport to the West Coast. Ultimately, that measure passed Congress in the new Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Bill and was signed into law by President Donald Trump.
Beyer and Warner are calling for an independent review of the entire region’s airspace, with the possibility that the number of flights might have to be reduced at Reagan.
One of those speaking at the session was Matthew Collins, who lost his younger brother Chris in the crash.
“How do we honor these 67 people and prevent something like this from ever happening again?” Collins said.
Former pilots, air traffic controllers and other aviation stakeholders also presented recommendations and ideas to Warner and Beyer, and the two said they will discuss many of them with the Federal Aviation Administration and others to improve safety.
Beyer and Warner said the Army has voluntarily cut the number of helicopter flights from the Pentagon’s nearby helipad and helicopter specific routes have been closed and moved further south from Reagan. But now, some residents in those flight paths are complaining about aircraft noise from the helicopters.
In May, after another close call involving military aircraft and two planes that were landing at Reagan National, forcing both to abort their landings, the FAA put new restrictions on Army helicopter flights from the Pentagon.
In August, the Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General started an audit of the FAA’s airspace management and the FAA’s allowance of exemptions of what is called ADS-B, or Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast. That’s a GPS-based monitoring system in aircraft that gives pilots significantly more information about where other aircraft are, in relation to where their aircraft is located.
Because of the information it provides, ADS-B is considered an upgrade over the existing radar technology.
On the night of the Jan. 29 crash, the Black Hawk helicopter had an ADS-B system onboard, but it was turned off.
On a national level, Warner said he is still very concerned that even as the FAA says it is rapidly training more air traffic controllers, the system is still short an estimated 3,000 controllers to bring it up to the full complement of controllers.
“How are we going to get the personnel in terms of FAA air traffic controllers and others whose really job is the front line of keeping us safe?” he asked.
The National Transportation Safety Board investigation is ongoing and a final report from the safety agency is expected sometime in the first or second quarter of 2026.
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