FAA Deputy Administrator Who Led 2025 Washington DC Crash Response Resigns

Chris Rocheleau, a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) official who led the agency’s primary response to American Airlines Flight 5342, is resigning from his FAA post. Rocheleau served as deputy acting administrator at the start of the Trump administration and acted as FAA administrator from January 30 until July 10. He will return to his role as Chief Operating Officer at the National Business Aviation Association. He led the FAA response to the fatal January 2025 collision between an American Eagle CRJ700 and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River that killed 67 people onboard. The NTSB found the crash resulted from FAA permission for helicopters to operate near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport without safeguards and faulted the agency for not reviewing flight data and for not acting on prior recommendations. Since then, the FAA revised helicopter routes and, as of March, suspended visual separation between helicopters and airplanes at major metropolitan airports.