Washington midair collision, American Eagle Flight 5342 (2025)

The Washington midair is the collision over the Potomac between a regional airliner and a U.S. Army helicopter. At about 8:48 p.m. on January 29, 2025, the Bombardier CRJ700 operating American Eagle flight 5342, flown by PSA Airlines from Wichita, was on final approach to runway 33 at Reagan National. It then struck a U.S. Army UH-60 Black Hawk on a training flight over the Potomac. All 64 people on the airliner and the three soldiers died. It was the deadliest U.S. commercial aviation accident since November 2001. The helicopter was on a published route that ran beneath the approach path, too high and too far west. The controller was working both the helicopter and the airliners alone, and had the Army crew maintain visual separation itself. The NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) determined the probable cause at its public board meeting on January 27, 2026. On liability, the flight was domestic, so outside the Montreal Convention: uncapped U.S. tort law. Families sued American Airlines, PSA and the United States. On December 17, 2025, the Justice Department admitted in writing that the federal government owed the victims a duty of care and breached it. The Army answered for the flight path, the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) for air traffic control. The claim against the government runs under the Federal Tort Claims Act, tried without a jury and without punitive damages. The admission does not settle everything: it opens the apportionment between the government, the carrier and its operator, and the airline's liability insurers' recoveries turn on that split. The government is its own insurer, for the helicopter as for the tower.