In the wake of a catastrophic midair collision that claimed 67 lives over Washington, D.C., acting Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Chris Rocheleau faced tough questions from lawmakers and safety officials during a Thursday congressional hearing.
The tragedy, which involved an Army helicopter and a commercial jetliner, has become a national flashpoint for aviation safety, raising urgent concerns about oversight failures and outdated flight protocols.
The January collision, which occurred over the Potomac River as an American Airlines plane approached Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, was the deadliest aviation accident in the United States since November 2001.
Despite numerous warning signs—including 85 documented close calls near the airport in the three years prior—corrective action never materialized in time to prevent the disaster.
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“We have to do better,” Rocheleau told the Senate aviation subcommittee. “We have to identify trends, we have to get smarter about how we use data, and when we put corrective actions in place, we must execute them.”
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy echoed lawmakers’ concerns, pointing to systemic issues in how the FAA identifies and responds to patterns in safety data.
According to investigators, the 85 prior close calls at Reagan Airport should have been a glaring red flag. Instead, they were reviewed individually, without recognizing the larger trend.
“There clearly was an issue with identifying trends in the data the FAA collects,” Homendy said.
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Among those listening closely was Dailey Crofton, whose brother Casey Crofton perished in the crash. “I was surprised at the lapses of safety protocols that led to this crash,” he said in a statement following the hearing.
In response to the mounting criticism, Rocheleau revealed that the FAA is deploying artificial intelligence (AI) to comb through millions of aviation safety reports in an effort to detect risks at other high-traffic airports.
The review will examine areas with significant helicopter and airplane traffic, including Boston, New York, Detroit, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, and others.
The AI-led assessment is expected to be completed in a matter of weeks. Rocheleau assured the committee that if any new threats are uncovered, the FAA will act immediately.
Yet concerns persist. Texas Senator Ted Cruz disclosed that on March 1—just weeks after the fatal crash—a test of anti-drone technology by the Secret Service and U.S. Navy triggered numerous collision alarms on planes near Reagan Airport.
The test reportedly used radio frequencies similar to those employed by aircraft warning systems, despite prior FAA warnings.
“This is deeply disturbing,” Cruz said. “Just a month after 67 people died while on approach to DCA, the Secret Service and Pentagon would inadvertently cause multiple flights to receive urgent cockpit alerts recommending evasive action.”
Following the crash, the FAA imposed new restrictions on helicopter activity near Reagan Airport. Helicopter traffic is now barred whenever planes use the runway involved in the collision.
Additionally, at the urging of the NTSB, the FAA permanently banned the specific helicopter route that intersected with the airliner’s path—except under rare conditions when no planes are using that runway.
Still, glaring gaps in protocol remain.
Shockingly, U.S. Army helicopters have continued flying over the nation’s capital without broadcasting their locations, a practice justified by the Army on grounds of mission sensitivity. Brig. Gen. Matthew Braman, head of Army aviation, confirmed the practice was still in place as of Thursday morning.
Cruz didn’t mince words in response: “This is shocking and unacceptable.”
The Army maintains that its helicopter unit’s primary mission is evacuating top government officials during an attack—missions that often require discretion.
However, in light of the tragedy, the FAA announced a policy change: all aircraft flying near Reagan Airport must now transmit their location data using ADS-B Out technology, enabling air traffic controllers to monitor movements in real time.
Homendy raised further alarms about whether aircraft systems are even functional.
The helicopter involved in the January crash hadn’t transmitted any location data for 730 days.
A subsequent inspection revealed that eight other helicopters in the unit had not transmitted location data since 2023.
She also expressed concern over the Army's internal approach to flight safety, noting that most conversations at the battalion level were focused on “OSHA slips, trips and falls,” rather than aviation-specific risks like altitude violations or airspace conflicts.
As the FAA scrambles to reform its systems and restore public trust, the stakes couldn’t be higher.
The collision over Washington was not an isolated incident, but rather the result of compounding oversight failures, siloed safety reviews, and a lack of urgency in responding to known threats.
The integration of AI may represent a step forward, but as Rocheleau admitted, “We have to do better.” For the families who lost loved ones and a nation that depends on air travel, better must come swiftly—and with accountability.
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