It's been nearly a year since a U.S. Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter collided with a passenger jet on approach to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, which resulted in both aircraft plummeting into the icy Potomac River below. The January 29, 2025, crash killed 67 people – 64 on the American Airlines flight and three Army personnel on the Black Hawk – and the first lawsuit related to the disaster is making its way through the courts.
Rachel Crafton, the widow of American Airlines flight 5342 (AE5342) passenger Casey Crafton, is suing the airline and the U.S. government over her husband's "senseless and tragic" death. In a Wednesday filing, the government admitted it failed in its "duty of care" to the commercial passengers, writing that the Army helicopter pilots had failed "to maintain vigilance so as to see and avoid AE5342."
From the filing:
... the United States admits that the [Black Hawk] and AE5342 pilots failed to maintain vigilance so as to see and avoid each other; the DCA local controller did not comply with ¶ 7-2-1(a)(2)(d) of FAA Order JO 7110.65AA, chg. 3, Air Traffic Control (Sept. 5, 2024); and because of the [Black Hawk] pilots’ failure to maintain vigilance so as to see and avoid AE5342, the United States is liable to a Plaintiff who is legally eligible to recover certain monetary damages, as permitted by the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), 28 U.S.C. §§ 1346(b), 2671–80, in an amount yet to be determined and apportioned among other tortfeasors.
As RedState has previously reported, the Army Black Hawk helicopter was on a training mission out of Fort Belvoir, Virginia, and was on a flight path that took it north up the Potomac River. It was returning from its mission when, according to preliminary reports, it failed to maintain the proper altitude as it neared the airport, putting it on a collision course with the passenger jet coming in from Wichita, Kansas.
READ MORE: BREAKING: New Details Emerge About Actions of Black Hawk Pilots in Deadly DC Mid-Air Collision
Jennifer Homendy, chairman of the National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB), said at a briefing earlier this year that investigators are paying particular attention to the altitudes of both aircraft at the time of the crash. From our reporting:
The altitudes of the two aircraft as they continued on the collision course were confirmed by Homendy. As it made its final descent into Reagan National, the passenger jet was at 313 feet, two seconds prior to the crash, and the Black Hawk was at 278 feet at the time of the collision.
The big issue, besides lingering questions about the female Black Hawk pilot's flying history, seems to be the altitude at which the helicopter was flying when the collision occurred. It was required to be flying no higher than 200 feet as it approached the airport, but, according to the NTSB's preliminary findings, was 78 feet above that cap. Putting it perilously close to the American Airlines flight.
Although the NTSB has yet to reveal its ultimate conclusion on who was at fault, it's clear the U.S. government thinks there's enough evidence that the Army crew failed in their duty to be vigilant on their flight. Rachel Crafton's legal team welcomed the admission.
“In a very carefully drafted and lengthy legal filing, the United States admits 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,” Robert A. Clifford, Crafton’s attorney, said in a statement to The Hill.
The final report from the NTSB is expected in early 2026.
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