Washington (United States) (AFP) – The US government admitted it was liable for a deadly midair collision between a military helicopter and a passenger jet outside Washington earlier this year, killing 67 people, according to a court document filed Wednesday. The 209-page filing by the US Department of Justice, obtained by AFP, was part of a civil lawsuit by one of the passengers killed on the jet against the US government and the commercial airlines operating the plane.
“The United States admits that it owed a duty of care to Plaintiffs, which it breached, thereby proximately causing the tragic accident,” the document begins. The crash occurred on January 29 when an American Eagle airliner from Wichita, Kansas, was approaching the landing strip at Ronald Reagan National Airport when a military Black Hawk helicopter operated by the US Army crashed into the jet, causing both aircraft to fall into the freezing Potomac River.
The disaster marked the deadliest crash of a US commercial flight in decades and prompted tighter air safety protocols at Reagan Airport. In the court documents, the government admitted that safety risks “of midair collision cannot be reduced to zero” in the airspace outside Reagan Airport. It also admitted to the failure of the US Army pilots of the Black Hawk “to maintain vigilance so as to see and avoid other aircraft and their failure was a cause-in-fact and proximate cause of the accident.”
The court filing also cited improper actions by an air traffic controller at the airport, saying they “did not comply” with federal regulations. Earlier this year, a preliminary investigation by the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) highlighted faulty instruments and communication problems as possible contributing factors to the crash. The inquiry found the air traffic controller’s warning to the helicopter about the jet was muffled, and it did not receive crucial instructions to veer out of the flight path moments before the midair collision.
The full NTSB investigation, which can take up to a year, is ongoing and a final report remains pending.
© 2024 AFP
