Key facts
- Chris Rocheleau, Deputy FAA Administrator, is stepping down.
- Rocheleau led the FAA's response to a fatal collision in January 2025.
- Liam McKenna will serve as acting deputy administrator.
- Rocheleau had previously served as acting administrator.
Chris Rocheleau, the Deputy Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), is stepping down next week. He had been named acting administrator days before a fatal January 2025 collision between an Army helicopter and an American Airlines regional jet that killed 67 people near Reagan Washington National Airport, and led the agency's response to the incident. Rocheleau told employees in an email that he was leaving for a new opportunity. The FAA's general counsel, Liam McKenna, will serve as acting deputy administrator. The National Transportation Safety Board determined the collision was caused by the FAA's decision to allow helicopters to travel close to the airport with no safeguards to separate them from airplanes and its failure to act on recommendations to move helicopter traffic away from the airport. Rocheleau acknowledged last year that 'Clearly something was missed.' The NTSB noted over 15,200 occurrences since 2021 between commercial airplanes and helicopters with less than 1 nautical mile lateral separation and less than 400 feet vertical separation near Reagan National Airport. The FAA has since revised helicopter routes, suspended visual separation between airplanes and helicopters near major airports, and created a new safety oversight office.