The final moments before last year’s deadly mid-air collision between a passenger jet and a military helicopter over Washington DC have been laid bare, as investigators delivered a damning verdict on the disaster.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) concluded on Tuesday that the January 2025 crash between an American Airlines aircraft and an Army Black Hawk helicopter, which left 67 people dead, was entirely avoidable.
NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy branded the disaster “100 per cent preventable”, blaming “deep, underlying systemic failures” that combined to produce the fatal conditions.
“We should be angry, because for years no one listened,” Ms Homendy told reporters ahead of a hearing on Tuesday.
Board member Todd Inman said safety concerns had been repeatedly raised over the past decade but ignored.
“People were saying this was dangerous five, 10 years ago – and nobody was really listening,” he said.
The investigation uncovered multiple failures inside the control tower at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
An air traffic controller became “overwhelmed” as traffic surged to 12 aircraft just 90 seconds before the collision – seven planes and five helicopters.
An animated video recreates the cockpit perspectives of both flights just before the fatal collision
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NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD
Investigators also found controllers on duty that night had not completed a specialist training workshop that could have better prepared them for the situation.
The Federal Aviation Administration had previously rejected recommendations to reroute helicopter traffic, despite a near-miss at the airport in 2013.
Morale at the tower had deteriorated for years after the FAA downgraded the facility in 2018, making it harder to recruit experienced controllers for what investigators described as “a very complex air traffic control operation”.
The collision occurred at around 300 feet – despite helicopters being restricted to a maximum altitude of 200 feet on that route.
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NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy branded the disaster ‘100 per cent preventable’
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Map showing the final moments of an American Airlines passenger plane just before it collided mid-air with a military helicopter
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Investigators believe the helicopter’s altimeter was likely displaying a lower reading than its true altitude.
A video animation shown at the hearing illustrated how Washington’s city lights restricted cockpit visibility and the crew’s night-vision equipment made it extremely difficult for the helicopter pilots to spot the oncoming airliner.
The NTSB concluded the helicopter crew probably never saw the aircraft, while the airline pilots may have noticed the chopper just two seconds before impact.
Controllers received a conflict alert when the aircraft were still 1.6 miles apart but failed to issue an urgent safety warning.
Emergency units respond after the crash in the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington Airport
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GettyRelatives of the victims attended the hearing, some wearing black shirts bearing the names of those killed.
Kristen Miller-Zahn, whose brother died in the crash, said: “The negligence of not fixing things that needed to be fixed killed my brother and 66 other people.”
Doug Lane, who lost his wife Christine and son Spencer, said he was “100 per cent” convinced the FAA had failed his family.
The board approved 40 safety recommendations – most directed at the FAA – including changes to the agency’s safety culture.
