U.S. admits liability in Army helicopter collision with American Airlines jet that killed 67 people

(EDITORS NOTE: Image contains graphic content) In this U.S. Coast Guard handout, the Coast Guard investigates aircraft wreckage on the Potomac River on Jan. 30, 2025 in Washington, DC.

Handout | Getty Images News | Getty Images

The United States government admitted liability in the deadly midair collision in January between an Army Black Hawk helicopter and an arriving American Airlines regional jet over the Potomac River that killed all 67 people aboard the two aircraft.

“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 Justice Department said in a court filing on Wednesday.

American Eagle Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kansas was approaching Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport at an altitude of about 300 feet when a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter carrying three people collided with the commercial jetliner.

The Jan. 29 crash was the worst air disaster in the U.S. since 2001 and prompted restrictions on helicopter flights around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, where the airspace is one of the most congested in the country,

The National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the crash investigation, criticized the FAA during a hearing over the summer about the crash for failing to address safety risks in the area as well as chronic staffing shortages.

The crew of the U.S. army helicopter failed to avoid the American plane, which was operated by the carrier’s subsidiary PSA Airlines, the Justice Department said in the filing

The crew also didn’t abide by altitude restrictions in the area, the Justice Department said in its filing. It admitted that the Federal Aviation Administration’s air traffic controllers failed to keep aircraft apart and issue alerts when planes were in proximity to one another.

The FAA and the Army didn’t immediately comment.

American Airlines didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The airline is also named a defendant in the lawsuit brought by the family of one of the crash victims, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington.