By JOSH FUNK, AP Transportation Writer
The family of one of the 67 people killed when an airliner collided with an Army helicopter over Washington, D.C., on Wednesday sued the government and the airlines involved, accusing them of failing to recognize the warning signs after more than 30 documented near misses in the area.
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Other families are expected to join this first lawsuit that seeks to hold the Federal Aviation Administration, the Army, American Airlines and its regional partner, PSA Airlines, accountable for the the deadliest U.S. plane crash since 2001. PSA Airlines operated Flight 5342 that crashed Jan. 29.
The lawsuit says the airlines and government agencies “utterly failed in their responsibilities to the travelling public.”
The widow of Casey Crafton from Connecticut, who is raising three young boys without her husband, filed the lawsuit. Her lawyers also represent the majority of the families of people who died in the crash.
The National Transportation Safety Board has already highlighted a long list of things that likely contributed to the crash, although the final report identifying the cause won’t be ready until next year.
The Black Hawk helicopter was flying well above the 200-foot (60-meter) limit, but even if it had been at the correct altitude, the route it was flying provided a scant 75 feet (23 meters) of separation between helicopters and planes landing on Ronald Reagan International Airport’s secondary runway. The flight data recorder showed the helicopter was actually flying 80 feet to 100 feet (24 to 30 meters) higher than the altimeter showed the pilots before the two aircraft collided.
The NTSB has also said the FAA failed to recognize an alarming pattern of near misses at the busy airport in the years before the crash and ignored concerns about helicopter traffic around the airport. Investigators also said that overworked controllers were trying to squeeze as many planes as possible into the landing pattern with minimal separation on a regular basis. If any of those things — or a number of other factors — had been different that night, the collision might have been avoided.
FILE – Crosses are seen at a makeshift memorial for the victims of the plane crash in the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, file)
The lawsuit says the airlines failed in their duty to protect the passengers because they were aware of numerous incidents in which helicopters flew close to commercial aircraft around Reagan airport but failed to adequately train pilots and didn’t inform them about the helicopter routes or take other action to mitigate the risks. Other airline policies, such as allowing pilots to accept an alternative runway that intersects with the helicopter route and heavily scheduling flights in the second half of every hour may have contributed.
The lawsuit says the PSA pilots should have reacted sooner when they received an alert about traffic in the area 19 seconds before the crash instead of waiting until the last second to pull up. The lawsuit says a yellow icon appeared on the pilots’ warning system showing the relative direction and altitude of the Army helicopter.
Among the jet’s passengers were several members of the Skating Club of Boston, who were returning from an elite junior skaters’ camp following the 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas. A figure skating tribute event in Washington raised $1.2 million for the crash victims’ families.
Others on the flight from Wichita included a group of hunters returning from a guided trip in Kansas; four members of a steamfitters’ union in suburban Maryland; nine students and parents from schools in Fairfax County, Virginia; and two Chinese nationals. There were also four crew members on the plane and three people in the helicopter’s crew who were killed.
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