Three months before the fatal midair collision near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration launched an audit of near misses at the nation’s busiest airports after a series of close calls that could have killed hundreds of passengers.
The ongoing audit follows recommendations of an independent aviation review team that identified “urgently needed” actions to modernize the system overseeing the nation’s increasingly crowded runways and airspace.
Sixty-seven people were presumed killed in the midair collision late Wednesday between a passenger plane from Wichita, Kansas, and an Army helicopter over the Potomac River.
The tragedy followed an increasing number of near collisions, including a close call between Delta and American Airlines planes at John F. Kennedy International Airport in 2023 and an incident the following month in which a FedEx plane came within 100 feet of landing on a Southwest plane trying to take off in Austin, Texas.
“We’ve got to clean it up. This is a warning. The system has been warning us for quite some time about this,” said Tom Kinton, an aviation expert and the former CEO of the Massachusetts Port Authority, which oversees Boston-Logan International Airport.
Given mounting concerns, the FAA opened an audit into runway incursion risks at 45 of the nation’s busiest airports in October.
SEE ALSO: Reagan National Airport has a long history of problems, challenges
“The audit will include a risk profile for each airport, along with identifying potential gaps in procedures, equipment, and processes, and recommendations to improve safety,” the agency said.
The review was supposed to be completed by early this year, though it will be too late for those who lost loved ones in this week’s tragedy.
President Trump on Thursday blamed diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives for potentially causing the crash, though he did not provide evidence. He also generally blamed poor aviation standards under his predecessors.
Wednesday’s tragedy and recent close calls coincide with concerns about understaffing at air traffic control operations and outdated technology at the nation’s airports.
The Government Accountability Office reviewed air traffic control systems after a system outage shut down national airspace in 2023. It found that 51 of its 138 systems were unsustainable, meaning they had outdated functionality, lacked spare parts or had other problems.
“FAA has been slow to modernize,” GAO investigators said. “Some system modernization projects won’t be complete for another 10-13 years. FAA also doesn’t have plans to modernize other systems in need — three of which are at least 30 years old.”
SEE ALSO: Concerns about outdated air traffic control systems return after deadly D.C. crash
Systems are aging even as air traffic volumes reach new highs.
Overall passenger-air traffic was up 10.4% in 2024 compared with the prior year and up 3.8% compared with pre-pandemic levels in 2019, the International Air Transport Association said in a report Thursday.
Experts say planes need to maintain safe spacing even if more of them are lifting off and landing at U.S. airports.
“If we’ve got more planes, that means they’ve got to wait longer because the separation’s not changing,” Mr. Kinton said. “Just because you add flights, you don’t decrease the separation.”
Passenger aviation remains exceedingly safe. The midair collision in Washington was the first major commercial airline crash since one near Buffalo in 2009.
“We have to look at this as an opportunity to make a safe system safer,” Mr. Kinton said. “The industry takes very seriously — anytime there’s an incident like this or a near miss — to take a time out, step back and take a look at it.”
He said officials in Washington can look at whether it is wise to let military helicopters cross airspace near its busy airport.
“Maybe there’s an opportunity here, you don’t let them cross so close,” Mr. Kinton said. “If it’s a military emergency, have the aircraft go around and let the helicopter cross. Don’t chance these close crossings. I don’t see the need.”
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.