American Airlines aircraft brush wings at Reagan National
The wingtip of American Airlines Flight 5490, a Bombardier CRJ 900 operated by PSA Airlines, heading for Charleston International Airport in South Carolina, struck American Airlines Flight 4522, an Embraer E175 operated by Republic Airways, bound for JFK International Airport in New York. There were no reported injuries. The incident occurred on a taxiway at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport at around 12:45 pm local time.
Both aircraft taxied back to the terminal where they were taken out of service and where maintenance teams inspected the damage, which was limited to a winglet on each aircraft. Passengers on both aircraft completed their journeys on replacement aircraft.
The Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority said that operations at Reagan National Airport were not impacted by the incident, which will now be investigated by the FAA.
The incident attracted particular attention because the passengers included two congressional members representing New York. Congressman Nick LaLota reported that everyone on the aircraft was OK on his Twitter feed, while Representative Grace Meng also posted on X, wrote: “Glad my colleagues and I are okay! We are safely waiting on the tarmac, but we may need more snacks.”
Meng said that she will be looking into the incident. “I’ve been flying for over 10 years to Washington–this has never happened to me,” adding that she was concerned about the hundreds of fired FAA officials whose roles involve flight safety.
“I felt safe, the crew took great care of us, but it just seemed like a preventable error,” she said.
