4 days ago
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U.S.|Plane Carrying 6 Members of Congress Is Clipped at Reagan Airport
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/10/us/reagan-airport-planes-clip-wings.html
Two American Airlines jets clipped wings on a taxiway, officials said. Representative Grace Meng said that, in 10 years of flying to and from Washington, “This has never happened to me.”
April 10, 2025, 3:44 p.m. ET
Two American Airlines jets, including one carrying at least six members of Congress from New York and New Jersey, clipped wings on a taxiway at Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington on Thursday, officials said.
There were no injuries, according to American Airlines, which said that the damage was limited to the winglets of the two planes and that both jets had been taken out of service for inspection.
The six House members were departing for Kennedy International Airport when the right winglet of their Embraer E175, which was stationary, was clipped by a regional jet heading to Charleston, S.C., officials said.
“I’ve been flying for over 10 years to Washington,” Representative Grace Meng, Democrat of New York, said during a Zoom call with reporters while waiting for another flight. “This has never happened to me.”
Ms. Meng, whose district is in Queens, identified the other House members who were aboard the flight as Gregory Meeks, Ritchie Torres, Adriano Espaillat, all Democrats from New York; Josh Gottheimer, Democrat of New Jersey; and Nick LaLota, a Long Island Republican.
Mr. LaLota posted about the experience on social media shortly after the accident.
“Serving in Congress has come with some once in a lifetime experiences… like just now while stationary on the runway at DCA, another plane just bumped into our wing,” he wrote on X, using the three-letter airport code for Reagan Airport.
It’s not unusual to spot members of Congress on commercial flights at Reagan Airport, especially during breaks on Capitol Hill. The lawmakers quickly began chronicling the mishap on social media.
The episode brought further scrutiny to safety procedures at the Reagan Airport, where an American Airlines regional jet making its final approach was struck by an Army helicopter on Jan. 29, killing all 67 people aboard the two aircraft. That crash was the deadliest in the United States in 20 years.
Neil Vigdor covers breaking news for The Times, with a focus on politics.
