By Gary Fields
The union representing thousands of flight attendants said Wednesday it has safety concerns about President Donald Trump’s proposed triumphal arch that will be on final approach to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
Association of Flight Attendants-CWA President Sara Nelson said the 250-foot (76 meter) arch compounds multiple safety concerns that she said have gone unaddressed from a deadly January 2025 crash over the Potomac River that killed 67 people. Nelson also criticized Trump’s plan to turn the arch into “a top grade military complex” able to host drones and snipers while storing ammunition.
“DCA is already stretched to its limit, we do not need an obstacle taking up space in our flight path,” said Nelson. “Nor should commercial aviation have to dodge military drones, missiles or snipers while attempting to take off or land at Washington National Airport. Safety first always.”
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Nelson’s statement on behalf of the union, which represents 55,000 flight attendants across 20 airlines, joins the voices of an assemblage of veterans’ groups, Congress members and others with safety concerns and complaints about the memorial’s threat to historic and symbolic sightlines between different landmarks in Washington, D.C.
Though the arch has received early approval from the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, whose members were all tapped by Trump, a group of three veterans and an architectural historian sued, saying the project needs to be approved by Congress.
Last month, the Republican president said in a social media post that he had agreed, at the “strong request” of the military, to convert the planned 250-foot-tall (76-meter) memorial arch “into a top grade Military Complex.”
The Federal Aviation Administration said last month before Trump’s announcement on it becoming a military complex that the arch would not pose a hazard to aircraft, but it should be “appropriately marked with a non-standard eternal flame on top of the structure and floodlight projectors pointed towards the arch to make it noticeable for pilots.
An assessment by the National Park Service said the memorial arch could disrupt the historical significance of dozens of nearby sites. The Park Service approved the project despite its assessment.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced early last month that excavation work on the site in Memorial Circle would begin within weeks. The Interior Department did not respond immediately to questions on the status of that work.
The arch is one of several projects around Washington that Trump has undertaken as he remakes the city, from renovating one of its storied public golf courses to threatening to demolish the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
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