FAA admits system failure and launches structural overhaul
FAA administrator Bryan Bedford told Congress on 19 May the agency had a "bad design" that caused the Reagan National crash, and announced a fundamental structural reorganisation designed to end data silos and strengthen safety accountability.
Federal Aviation Administration administrator Bryan Bedford told a Senate subcommittee on 19 May that the agency had a "bad design" that contributed to the fatal midair collision near Reagan National Airport in January 2025, and that the FAA is now carrying out a comprehensive reorganisation it describes as a fundamental structural change rather than a reshuffling of existing roles.
Bedford's testimony before the Senate Subcommittee on Aviation, Space and Innovation was the most direct public admission yet that systemic failures, not individual error, were the proximate cause of the crash. All 67 people aboard an American Airlines regional jet and a US Army Black Hawk helicopter were killed when the two aircraft collided on approach to Reagan National.
"The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) final report confirms that our airspace system was providing warning signals prior to the accident," Bedford told senators. "The issue was not a lack of data; it was a failure to translate data into action."
The National Transportation Safety Board's final report identified multiple systemic failures, including helicopter routes that placed military traffic too close to commercial approach paths, and a broader failure by the FAA to act on prior safety data and recommendations. Bedford said the FAA is currently working to comply with 19 of the NTSB's 35 safety recommendations, with some expected to be completed by year-end and others requiring larger safety review processes extending into 2027.
The reorganisation Bedford described is the central structural response, designed to break down long-standing internal silos that prevented safety and operational data from moving across the agency without delay. The FAA is streamlining leadership roles and establishing a new Aviation Safety Management System Organisation reporting directly to the administrator, replacing a fragmented approach that varied across departments.
A new centralized safety office has been created with a mandate to identify aviation "hot spots" before incidents occur rather than responding after the fact. Bedford told senators the FAA had already implemented new helicopter routes, flight path restrictions near Reagan National and new risk-assessment tools for air traffic supervisors.
The reorganisation is running in parallel with the FAA's largest-ever infrastructure project: a $12.5bn digital modernisation of the National Airspace System, funded by Congress and being executed on an accelerated timeline under Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. Bedford acknowledged the agency is managing both simultaneously while absorbing the loss of thousands of employees to retirements and departures to private industry.
The ROTOR Act, which passed the Senate with unanimous consent and would mandate ADS-B In technology on aircraft operating in mixed airspace, was blocked in the House in February in favour of the ALERT Act. Bedford has backed the ROTOR Act; whether the House and Senate can reconcile the two bills before the end of the session will determine whether the airspace reform has regulatory teeth.
