Air passengers express jitters on heels of deadly crash in DC​on February 1, 2025 at 5:58 am

EAST ELMHURST, Queens (WABC) — Ashton Bankston is a nervous flier and admits she had second thoughts about boarding her flight from LaGuardia to New Orleans after Wednesday night’s horrific crash in Washington.

“I already am anxious but I will say I’m a little more anxious today,” Bankston said.

Notably though, there have not been any reported collisions mid-air at the three major New York-area airports in more than ten years, but there have been recorded close calls on the ground, known as runway incursions – where planes have narrowly avoided striking each other while landing, taking off or taxiing.

According to the FAA, just between January 2022 and now, there were a total of 65 incursions at the three major airports – none resulting in a collision, but more than half blamed on air traffic control actions.

“Nowhere else in this world has that many metropolitan airports not close together in such a short radius. So that makes the operation unique,” said Embry-Rittle Air Traffic Management Associate Professor Dr. Michael McCormick.

McCormick is the former manager of the New York Air Traffic Control Center and was in charge of closing the airspace on September 11. He says staffing shortages need to be addressed.

“Last year they initiated a 10 percent reduction I flights in and out of the New York airports. However, that is only a short-term fix that doesn’t truly solve the problem,” Dr. McCormick added.

In a statement, the union which represents air traffic controllers said it,

“Remains supportive of taking all possible steps to ensure America has the best and safest air traffic control system in the world. We will be a ready partner with the administration and Congress in any effort to further modernize the ATC system to maximize safety and protect lives.”

For some frequent fliers at LaGuardia, though – they already feel safe enough.

“Certainly unfortunate, but it’s not going to stop me from flying,” said David Reimer.

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