Let’s do something obviously dangerous and also pointless, just for the fun of it.
The Trump administration is eager to press ahead with its proposed 250-foot arch at Memorial Circle, a traffic island on the historic bridge connecting Washington, D.C. to Arlington, Va.
The grassy roundabout is not far from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA): An arch would stand just about two aeronautical miles from the airport’s main runway, which is one of the busiest in the country.
“An enormous number of airplanes come over that site, basically every 45 to 60 seconds all day long ’til 11 at night,” U.S. Rep. Don Beyer, a Democrat who represents that part of Virginia, told NPR. “Just imagine the disaster that could happen with all of these airplanes coming right across a 250-foot-high arch.”
That makes it more exciting! Like a roller coaster!
The no-fly zone above the National Mall forces most flights landing at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) from the north to approach along a narrow path along the Potomac River. Recent DCA passenger-flight-path data shows how much traffic passes through the site where the Trump administration wants to build a 250-foot arch.
So flying into National Airport is already risky, and Trump is eager to make it more so. Whatta guy, whatta pal.
A preliminary Federal Aviation Administration report said in June that the structure would likely not be an issue as long as it has blinking red obstruction lights on top, as the 555-foot-tall Washington Monument does.
Yeah let’s just throw up lots of obstacles along busy flight paths, we can always put blinking red obstruction lights on them. Blinking red lights make mistakes impossible.
NPR spoke to three aviation safety experts about the impacts of a potential arch. Their consensus: While the arch itself most likely would not pose a significant risk to most aircraft, it adds yet another variable to a notoriously crowded and complicated airspace.
“It’s a small airport with one runway, nestled in a metropolitan area that’s surrounded by prohibited airspace [near the White House and U.S. Capitol],” said Jeff Guzzetti, a retired accident investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration.
The congestion — and complexity — of D.C.’s airspace is a well-documented concern, especially after the January 2025 midair collision between an American Airlines regional jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter that killed 67 people. Even so, some experts worry the FAA may be facing political pressure from Trump to rubber-stamp the project.
Ya think? It’s not as if Trump always presses people to do whatever he wants.
Shawn Pruchnicki, a former airline pilot and accident investigator who now teaches aviation safety at Ohio State University, went even further. He said putting a 250-foot arch in Memorial Circle would be “inherently dangerous.”
“This is an unbelievably ridiculous idea, to put this arch so close to this airport just for the sake of his personal needs,” Pruchnicki added, referring to Trump.
His “personal needs” being his insatiable vanity and lust for ever more visibility.
H/t What a Maroon
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