NTSB faults FAA for Potomac midair crash, cites dangerous routes and complacency
The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the Federal Aviation Administration had approved dangerous flight routes that allowed an Army Black Hawk helicopter to fly into the path of an American Airlines passenger jet over the Potomac River on Jan. 29, 2025, producing a calamitous midair collision, the board said in a meeting on Tuesday.
The unanimous, yearlong investigation focused blame on the F.A.A., finding a complacent culture in the air traffic control tower at Ronald Reagan National Airport and an overreliance on pilots using visual separation to see and avoid each other. N.T.S.B. chair Jennifer Homendy said, "It's one failure after another," and called the crash "100 percent preventable." Investigators concluded the F.A.A.
approved routes that were not designed to ensure separation between aircraft and ignored repeated appeals from controllers to reduce traffic at National Airport. Heavy traffic forced controllers to divert aircraft to the backup Runway 33, putting planes in proximity with helicopters, the board found.
Staff said the agency installed but never activated a traffic management system that could have helped. The board found that insufficient warnings from the controller and altimeter problems on the Black Hawks contributed to the crash.
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