The federal government admitted liability for the deadly plane collision in Washington, D.C., earlier this year, conceding military personnel and government air traffic controllers contributed to the disaster.
In the 209-page filing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the Justice Department wrote that 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 January collision between an Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines commercial plane occurred near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, marking the deadliest plane crash on American soil in more than two decades. The government filing described it as a “wholly avoidable tragedy” that resulted in the deaths of all 67 people on board the two aircraft, which plunged into the Potomac River.
Government lawyers this week admitted that the three-person crew of the Black Hawk helicopter failed to see and avoid the American Airlines jet approaching the airport’s runway.
The helicopter pilots “failed to maintain vigilance so as to see and avoid other aircraft and their failure was a cause-infact and proximate cause of the accident,” the filing states.
Reagan National Airport failed to alert the jet of the approaching helicopter, court filings added.
Government lawyers identified an air traffic controller in the DCA tower as partially to blame, arguing the controller “negligently violated” a Federal Aviation Administration order by “failing to follow the procedures for visual separation” between the helicopter and passenger jet.
The court filings on Wednesday mark the Justice Department’s response to the first lawsuit filed by one of the victims’ families. Casey Crafton’s widow, Rachel, alleged the U.S. government, American Airlines, and PSA Airlines, which operated Flight 5342, failed to see warning signs after more than 30 near-collisions in the area of DCA.
American Airlines and PSA Airlines have filed motions to dismiss the claims targeting them.
The National Transportation Safety Board considered irregular staffing on the night of the crash to be a contributing factor. As a result, staffing rules at the airport have been tightened.
Only one air traffic controller was responsible for managing plane and helicopter traffic at the time of the crash in January. The responsibilities were combined an hour earlier in a practice called an “early shove,” which is used when air traffic is light.
During a debate this summer, the NTSB also criticized the Army’s failure to issue a broader advisory about the challenges faced by Black Hawk helicopters. There were known issues with the Lima model Black Hawk’s barometric altimeter, which resulted in measurements varying between 70 and 100 feet.
