Inspector General to Probe FAA Oversight of Washington Airspace After Deadly Midair Collision

The Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General launched the probe one week after critical investigative hearings into the incident.

A plane takes off from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport as Roberto Marquez of Dallas places flowers at a memorial of crosses he erected on Feb. 1, 2025, in Arlington, Va., for the 67 victims of a midair collision between an Army helicopter and an American Airlines jet. Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo

A federal agency said on Aug. 8 that it will open an investigation into the Federal Aviation Administration’s oversight of the airspace around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in connection with a deadly midair collision between an Army helicopter and a commercial jet that killed 67 people earlier this year.

The announcement from the Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) comes one week after the National Transportation Safety Board’s three-day “fact-finding” hearing into the crash, which probed the Federal Aviation Administration’s management of Washington’s airspace, its staffing at the airport’s control tower on Jan. 29 when the accident occurred, and exemptions given to the Army to allow its helicopters at the time to operate without a key location transmitting technology—ADS-B Out.