In a court filing submitted on Wednesday, the US government acknowledged its responsibility for the fatal midair collision that occurred earlier this year between a military helicopter and a passenger jet outside of Washington, which resulted in the deaths of 67 people.
One of the passengers died on the aircraft filed a civil action against the US government and the commercial airlines that operated the aircraft, and AFP was able to get the 209-page document from the US Department of Justice.
“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.
A military Black Hawk helicopter operated by the US Army collided with an American Eagle airliner from Wichita, Kansas, as it was approaching the landing strip at Ronald Reagan National Airport on January 29. Both aircraft fell into the icy Potomac River.
Reagan Airport’s aviation safety procedures were tightened as a result of the incident, which was the deadliest accident of a US commercial aircraft in decades.
The government acknowledged in the court documents that there are safety hazards “of midair collision cannot be reduced to zero” in the airspace outside of 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.
