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The US government has admitted partial fault in January’s deadly Washington D.C. mid-air collision as litigation continues.
A total of 67 people were killed when an American Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 passenger jet and a US Army Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter collided near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on 29 January this year.
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In a court filing responding to relatives of the victims who are suing the government along with American Airlines and its subsidiary PSA Airlines, the US admitted that pilots of the Black Hawk and the CRJ700 “failed to maintain vigilance so as to see and avoid each other”, and that air traffic control had failed to comply with some policies and procedures.
“The United States admits that it owed a duty of care to Plaintiffs, which it breached, thereby proximately causing the tragic accident on January 29, 2025,” the government’s response read.
“The United States admits that it, among other tortfeasors, is liable to a Plaintiff who is legally eligible to recover monetary damages … in an amount yet to be determined and apportioned among other tortfeasors.”
In their initial filing, lawyers for Rachel Crafton, the widow of one of the American Airlines passengers, noted a “substantial number of ‘near miss’ events in and around” DCA, and said “collective failures” on the part of the defendants had caused the crash.
“Prior to, and on the night of the mid-air collision, the Defendants knew, or should have known, that AE5342 was transiting one of the busiest airspaces in the United States, and they knew, or should have known, that the airport approaches, and the airspace in the vicinity of Washington D.C.’s Reagan National Airport, presented certain safety risks, specifically including the possibility of a mid-air collision,” the plaintiffs said.
“Because of Defendants’ failure to analyse the data and information at their disposal, and due to their failure to operate and/or control aircraft with the highest degree of safety, this mid-air collision was, tragically, an accident waiting to happen.”
In a statement, Robert A. Clifford, Crafton’s attorney, said the government had admitted “the Army’s responsibility for the needless loss of life in the crash of an Army helicopter and American Airlines Flight 5342 at Reagan National Airport, as well as the FAA’s failure to follow air traffic control procedure” in a “very carefully drafted and lengthy legal filing”.
“The government, however, rightfully acknowledges that it is not the only entity responsible for this deadly crash, and, indeed, it asserts that its conduct is but one of several causes of the loss of life that January evening,” he said.
“PSA Airlines and American Airlines have filed motions to dismiss the claims against them. The families and their counsel will carefully study these new filings.”
