Boston, MA – After several troubling incidents at Logan Airport, U.S. Representative Stephen F. Lynch (MA-08) has requested an urgent review of flight operations with FAA officials and an update on investigations into recent events. Yesterday, the right wing of a United Airlines plane struck the tail of another United Airlines plane, as both were scheduled for departure. One week prior to that incident, a JetBlue plane narrowly escaped a collision with a Learjet aircraft as it was preparing to land. In addition, on Sunday a man attempted to attack a flight attendant and open an emergency exit door on a United Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Boston Logan Airport. 

“I am relieved that no one was hurt or injured in all three events, however the escalation of incidents and “close calls” at Logan airport is very troublesome,” said Rep. Lynch. “The FAA is responsible for flight operations and I have already requested a briefing with their officials to get an update on their investigations into how these events occurred and proposed solutions to ensure they do not continue. We must be vigilant and address these issues now to prevent more accidents from happening with potentially far worse outcomes.”

Rep. Lynch was a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in the last Congress when they held a hearing to examine the surge of disruptive behavior on airplanes and its effect on passenger and airline crew safety, airline crew training, and enforcing federal laws. Since January 2021, the United States has experienced a drastic increase in the number of unruly passenger incidents reported by airline crews, many of which resulted in injuries to flight attendants. Although the FAA has issued a record amount of civil penalties against disruptive passengers, “air rage” continues to be a serious issue.