1 of 2 | Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Bryan Bedford speaks in a Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Subcommittee on Aviation, Space, and Innovation hearing evaluating the changes the FAA made to safety measures prior to the DCA crash in the Russell Senate Office Building near the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on Tuesday, May 19, 2026. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
WASHINGTON, May 19 (UPI) -- The administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration told senators in a hearing Tuesday that "bad design" of the airspace above Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport caused an American Eagle commuter flight and a Black Hawk Army helicopter to collide and crash into the Potomac River last year, killing 67 people.
The hearing by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation Subcommittee on Aviation, Space and Innovation was held to review the FAA's progress in implementing 35 safety recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board after the crash.
The recommendations came in the wake of the board's Jan. 28 finding that "systemic failures" by the agency and the U.S. Army caused the crash 1/2-mile southeast of the Arlington, Va., airport on the evening of Jan. 29, 2025.
