God forbid waking up and looking in a mirror one day and say, ‘Wow, I was warned. I was warned and I shouldn’t have done this,’” Kaine said in 2024.

An airspace cluttered with passenger planes and military aircraft. A history of near-crashes. And a growing shortage of air traffic controllers available to manage it all. Some experts, politicians and airport managers have been warning for years of the risks posed by the crowded airspace and volume of flights at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA).

Deadly mid-air collision over Washington, D.C., reignites concerns over air traffic congestion and safety risks at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport

Before the additional flights were approved, a senator warned that the increase could heighten the risk of collisions.

Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) services both military helicopters and passenger planes every day.

We’ve been pretty plain about our [safety] concerns, but it isn’t a good time to speculate right now,’ Senator Tim Kaine said Thursday

Political leaders had warned about the dangers of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C. months before an American Airlines flight collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter on its approach to the airport.

The plan to add five incoming and five outgoing flights was included in the bipartisan FAA Reauthorization Act last year.

Lawmakers have expressed concerns about congestion in at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport amid a constricted space.

In the three years before the deadly collision between an Army helicopter and an American Airlines flight near Reagan National Airport, at least two other pilots reported near-misses with helicopters while landing at the airport,

U.S. authorities said on Thursday it was not yet clear why a regional jet crashed into a U.S. Army helicopter at a Washington airport, killing 67 people in the deadliest U.S. air disaster in more than 20 years.

A combination of factors may have played a role in the deadly airplane/helicopter crash, including increased air traffic on the world's busiest runway, vacant air traffic controller positions and outdated technology to make flights safer.