A fatal collision between an American Airlines regional jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) in January 2025 was the result of a "multitude of errors" and "systemic issues across multiple organizations," members of the National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday, Jan. 27.
The board held an all-day hearing on Jan. 27 and proposed dozens of safety recommendations to address failures before the crash. The NTSB disclosed in March that since 2021, there were 15,200 air separation incidents near DCA involving commercial airplanes and helicopters, including 85 close-call events.
"We have an entire tower who took it upon themselves to try to raise concerns over and over and over and over again, only to get squashed by management and everybody above them," NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said during the hearing. "Were they set up for failure?
Most of the NTSB's recommendations pertained to how the Federal Aviation Administration handles traffic near DCA and other air traffic control practices at the agency.
"This was 100% preventable," Homendy said. "There's definitely need for serious reform."
