Flight attendants' union flags safety concerns over Trump's Washington arch

Reported by ABC News. The paragraphs below are the opening of that article, reproduced word for word — not a summary, and not the whole piece.

The union representing flight attendants has raised safety concerns about President Donald Trump's proposed triumphal arch near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport

WASHINGTON -- 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.”

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.