The shocking collision of a passenger plane and military helicopter above the Potomac has raised questions about airline safety.
by Boris Nusinzon
Assistant Editor
Multiple aviation accidents have rocked the nation since the beginning of 2025, leading to various theories as to why these accidents occurred. On January 29, a regional American Eagle passenger jet and an Army helicopter collided in the skies above Washington, D.C., resulting in what might have been the worst plane crash in fifteen or sixteen years. The disastrous accident left 64 passengers dead with no survivors, including “members of the U.S. Figure Skating team, several Russian figure skaters, coaches and family members,” as reported by U.S. Figure Skating and Russian state media.
The crash occurred just before 9 PM when an American Airlines plane was preparing to land at Reagan National Airport, attempting to coordinate with the Black Hawk helicopter in the typically busy traffic at the airport. The helicopter was carrying three pilots who were “experienced” crew members and taking part in a military training exercise, according to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. DC Mayor Muriel Bowser explained in a press conference that the two vehicles crashed when the jet was flying from south to north and the helicopter was flying from north to south; the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) later said how the Black Hawk may have been flying higher than it should have been, potentially leading to the deadly crash into the Potomac River.
NPR noted how the crash followed multiple near-misses in previous years, raising questions about air safety–the chairwoman of the NTSB noted how there are major safety concerns with the management of the airspace above the Reagan National Airport. In particular, Jennifer Homendy detailed how there was at least one “close call” every month between 2011 and 2024. Concerns were raised about how there have been many events in which planes and helicopters have flown at dangerously close altitudes; the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) head, Sean Duffy, responded accordingly by accepting the NTSB recommendations. The Department of Transportation website clarified how they were “permanently restricting non-essential helicopter operations around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) and eliminating mixed helicopter and fixed wing traffic.”
Tragedy struck again two days later when a small medical transport plane crashed into several buildings in Philadelphia–all six people on board and at least one person on the ground were killed, according to the mayor of the city. The plane was carrying Mexicans who were returning a child patient who had just been treated for a life-threatening disease at Shriners Children’s Hospital; the BBC explained that “Witnesses described shrapnel damaging cars and sending burning debris into the streets.” Ryan Tian was interviewed by The Philadelphia Inquirer and said he “saw the sky turning orange” alongside a “massive fireball.” The Inquirer also found that another plane belonging to the same manufacturer crashed in Mexico in 2023, providing a possible explanation for why this plane crashed approximately a minute after takeoff.
More close calls and smaller incidents have followed. CBS News and Newsweek reported that these have included a near-crash between a Southwest Airlines plane and a private business jet in Chicago on February 25, a light aircraft crashing and catching fire in suburban Pennsylvania, and two similar light aircraft incidents in late February.
The reason for these increasing crashes is not entirely clear. In a White House memo and a press conference the day after the crash, Donald Trump and his administration claimed that diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) hiring policies may have contributed to the crash. The memo on January 30 claimed that “This shocking event follows problematic and likely illegal decisions during the Obama and Biden Administrations… the Biden Administration egregiously rejected merit-based hiring, requiring all executive departments and agencies to implement dangerous ‘diversity equity and inclusion’ tactics, and specifically recruiting individuals with ‘severe intellectual’ disabilities in the FAA.” NPR has rejected these claims, claiming that “It is unclear what, if any, evidence contributed to the president’s claims.”
Newsweek interviewed two anonymous FAA employees who spoke out about what might be contributing to these airplane crashes. They claimed that staffing shortages are contributing to safety issues, as “low staffing levels in the high-pressure job equate to long hours, widespread mandatory overtime and high rates of turnover within the federal agency responsible for protecting the nation’s busy skies.” One of the controllers commented how it was unclear whether insufficient staffing caused the crash in Washington, but Sean Duffy commented on how air traffic control staffing was “not normal” at the time of that crash.
Going forward, the FAA may have to consider significant reforms in order to ensure that there are no more major crashes. One of the air traffic controllers noted how the system is “definitely teetering on the edge of disaster,” something that Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy–alongside the new FAA administrator–will have to carefully handle.