The Potomac River Midair Collision

On January 29, 2025, a midair collision occurred near Washington National Airport at 278 feet above the Potomac River, ending nearly 16 years without a major US airline disaster. The tragedy resulted from decades of interlocking policies and institutional dysfunction, with safety concerns that many aviation professionals had foreseen but lacked the power to address. While the disaster has prompted safety improvements, the underlying systemic issues that enabled the collision remain unresolved.