Lawmakers have an interest in boosting direct flights to their states because Reagan is closer to downtown than Dulles.

Three months before the fatal mid-air collision at Reagan National Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration launched an audit of near-misses at the nation’s busiest airports after a series of close calls that could have killed hundreds of passengers.

Flight operations are expected to resume late Thursday morning at Reagan National Airport (DCA) after a plane and helicopter crash Wednesday night.

The Federal Aviation Administration in a statement said American Airlines Flight 5342, departing from Wichita, Kansas to Washington, collided around 9 p.m. midair while approaching the runway with a Sikorsky H-60 helicopter.

There have been a number of close calls around the country in recent years that concerned aviation experts and officials.

Investigations have begun into how American Airlines flight 5342 suffered a mid-air collision with a US army’s Black Hawk helicopter, with both crashing into the Potomac River in Washington. Aviation experts are already providing some explanation as to how this tragedy unfolded,

American stock was down, but the market impact appeared contained. There were few details on the fate of the passengers involved.

WASHINGTON—Just after 8:47 p.m. on Wednesday, an air-traffic controller at Reagan National Airport relayed a seemingly ordinary inquiry and instruction: “PAT25, do you have the CRJ in sight?” he asked a U.

Ronald Reagan National Airport halted all departing and arriving flights until 11 a.m. Thursday after the midair crash.

The American Airlines flight was carrying 64 people when it collided with a Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan National Airport.

A midair collision between an Army helicopter and an American Airlines flight from Kansas has killed all 67 people aboard the two aircraft.