At Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington D.C., two American Airlines aircraft lightly collided on the taxiway Thursday afternoon. According to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the wingtip of one aircraft made contact with the other, with no injuries reported.
On board one of the aircraft were six members of the U.S. Congress, including Nick LaLota, Grace Meng, and Gregory Meeks. Their plane was stationary when it was “tapped” by another aircraft. The collision comes three months after a deadly accident at the same airport, in which 67 people lost their lives when a helicopter collided mid-air with a passenger plane during landing.
The FAA confirmed that flight 5490, a Bombardier CRJ 900 en route to Charleston International Airport (South Carolina), made contact with flight 4522, an Embraer E175 bound for JFK International Airport in New York, on the taxiway around 12:45 PM local time. Both aircraft were able to return to the gate on their own. The airport reported that the incident did not affect other flights.
American Airlines stated that flight 5490 had 76 passengers onboard and flight 4522 had 67. No one was injured. “Safety is our top priority,” the airline said in a statement. “We sincerely apologize to our customers for the experience.” Both aircraft have been taken out of service for inspection. The damage appears to be limited to the winglets of both planes.
The incident raises further questions about safety at the airport. The investigation into the fatal crash on January 29 is still ongoing. At that time, an American Airlines flight from Wichita, Kansas, collided with a Sikorsky H-60 Black Hawk helicopter from the U.S. Army. The cause has not yet been determined, but a preliminary report from the NTSB recommended banning certain helicopter operations near the airport.