An American Airlines plane takes off from Reagan National Airport in front of wreckage from a crash involving an American Eagle plane and helicopter over the Potomac river in Alexandria, Virginia, on January 29, 2025.
Allison Robert | The Washington Post | Getty Images
The family of one of the victims of the January 29 fatal collision between an American Airlines, opens new tab regional jet and a U.S. Army helicopter that killed 67 people near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport sued the airline, its subsidiary and the U.S. government on Wednesday.
The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Washington also names PSA Airlines, which was operating the flight, and said the airlines “manipulated and abused” the arrival rate system at the Washington airport “to force in more of their arrivals per hour at the airport despite its knowledge that doing so severely limited the margins for safety.”
The crash, which occurred just southeast of the airport over the Potomac River, was the deadliest U.S. air disaster in more than 20 years.
The lawsuit said the airlines along with the Army and Federal Aviation Administration failed to prevent the “wholly avoidable tragedy.” The suit said the Army flight crew failed to operate the Black Hawk helicopter at or below the mandatory altitude and the FAA controllers failed to separate aircraft in airspace and issue safety alerts when aircraft are in an unsafe proximity.
The airlines and government agencies “utterly failed in their responsibilities to the traveling public,” the suit said.
The FAA and Army did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
American said Flight 5342 was on a standard approach to Reagan when the Army helicopter — which was above the published helicopter route altitude — collided with it.
“American has a strong track record of putting the safety of our customers and team members above everything else,” the company said, adding it will “defend American and PSA Airlines against any legal action claiming the airline caused or contributed to this accident.”
In May, the FAA barred the Army from helicopter flights around the Pentagon after a May 1 close call that forced two civilian planes to abort landings. The FAA said last week those Army helicopter flights remain on hold.