FAA: No political interference in Trump arch review

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) head Bryan Bedford said there was no political interference in the air safety review for President Trump’s proposed triumphal arch , which concluded that a visible eternal flame should be installed at the top of the structure.

“We put the process through the same obstruction evaluation that our career [employees] do for any project,” Bedford told reporters during a Wednesday event in Washington, Reuters reported .

The administrator added the FAA did not give the Trump-led project any special consideration during its review.

An FAA spokesperson told The Hill on Saturday the arch will be topped with a “non-standard eternal flame … and floodlight projectors pointed towards the Arch to make it noticeable for pilots.”

The agency also notified the National Park Service about the study and its lighting recommendations, which said the flame should “provide an average illumination of at least 15 foot-candles (161.46 lux) over the top one-third of the structure.”

The FAA released its hazard study on the project and confirmed the 250-foot arch “would not pose a hazard to aircraft” after examining air traffic patterns around Reagan Washington National Airport.

Structures standing more than 200 feet tall in Washington require lighting, although an “aeronautical study may reveal that the absence of marking and/or lighting will not impair aviation safety,” per FAA guidelines.

The Washington Monument, the tallest structure in the capital, features red obstruction lights close to the top of the 555-foot obelisk.

The arch would be located on the Arlington Memorial Bridge, which connects Washington to Arlington, Va. The bridge’s symbolism is tied to the country’s reunification after the Civil War, bridging the state that was home to the Confederate capital to the capital of the Union.

Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) on Tuesday challenged the president’s announcement that the arch would include a “ top grade military complex ” equipped with drones, snipers and “large quantities of sniper ammunition storage.” The lawmaker’s district includes Arlington and its National Cemetery.

“The overwhelming local opposition to Trump’s illegal and disrespectful vanity arch will not be defeated by this chicanery,” Beyer said in a statement . “The Narcissist in Chief is not fooling anyone.”

The triumphal arch would be the tallest in the world if completed, towering over the Arc de Triomphe in Paris and measuring 30 feet taller than the world’s tallest arch, the Monumento a la Revolución in Mexico City.