A regional jet departing the U.S. capital was forced to divert shortly after takeoff when the aircraft struck an object on the runway, leaving a hole in the nose of the aircraft.
On March 9th 2026, a PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ-700, registration N517AE, operating flight AA-5561 on behalf of American Airlines, departed Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport bound for Birmingham.
Shortly after liftoff from runway 15, the aircraft struck what was later believed to be a foreign object on the runway. Following the impact, the crew stopped the climb at about 4,000 feet and assessed the situation.
As a precaution, the pilots chose to divert to the nearby Washington Dulles International Airport. The regional jet landed safely on runway 19C roughly 16 minutes after departure.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the aircraft had struck an object during the takeoff roll. A post-flight inspection after landing at Dulles revealed a hole in the aircraft’s radome—the protective nose cone that houses the weather radar.
The aircraft remained on the ground in the Washington area about 14 hours after landing while maintenance teams assessed the damage and investigators looked into the source of the foreign object.
Foreign object debris, often referred to as FOD in aviation, can include loose material on runways such as metal fragments, tools, or other debris capable of causing damage to aircraft during takeoff or landing. The incident is expected to be examined further to determine what object was struck and how it ended up on the runway.
