Plane’s wing tip hits another aircraft at Reagan National airport

ARLINGTON (AP) — The wing tip of an American Airlines plane struck another plane from the same airline on a taxiway of the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington County on Thursday, authorities said. No injuries were reported.

The wing tip of an aircraft heading to Charleston, South Carolina, struck a plane en route to New York City about shortly before 1 p.m., according to a statement from the Federal Aviation Administration, which is investigating.

The plane to New York wasn’t moving at the time, passenger and U.S. Rep. Nick LaLota, R-New York, said on X.

LaLota noted that U.S. Rep. Grace Meng, D-New York, was also aboard the flight.

“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,” LaLota’s post said. “Heading back to the gate, but thankfully everyone is ok!”

Roughly 80 people were on the plane to Charleston, and 71 for the flight to New York, according to American Airlines. The company said in a statement that damage was limited to a winglet on each aircraft. It said both planes would be taken out of service for inspection and that replacement aircraft would take passengers to their destinations.

“Safety is our top priority, and we apologize to our customers for their experience,” the airline’s statement said.

Greg Gilligan, a passenger on the flight to New York, said he was able to board a new aircraft about 3:30 p.m. He said the experience had stunned him.

“I saw the plane zipping by thinking it was going fast, when it struck the wing of our plane,” Gilligan said in a text message. “It was a crazy unbelievable experience.”

Reagan National Airport was the site of a Jan. 29 midair collision between an American Airlines jet and a Black Hawk helicopter that claimed 67 lives and was the deadliest U.S. plane crash in more than two decades.

U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, in 2023, voiced opposition to the addition of more flights at DCA, saying the airport and its surrounding airspace near the nation’s capital and the Pentagon was too congested for more flights.

In the wake of the Jan. 29 crash, they and other elected officials from Maryland and Northern Virginia signed a letter voicing concerns about the prospect of Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, preparing to cut jobs that impact aviation safety. In late January, the FAA restricted helicopter flights near the airport.

According to a March report by the National Transportation Safety Board, there were 85 near misses between aircrafts during recent years at Reagan, and airplane pilots were told to take evasive action to avoid hitting helicopters at least once a month from 2011 through 2024.