What we know about the deadly air crash between a passenger jet and a US Army helicopter

A congressional hearing Thursday reinforced the idea that the January midair collision between an American Airlines passenger jet and an Army helicopter that killed all 67 people aboard both aircraft could have been prevented.

The Federal Aviation Administration already had data showing an alarming number of close calls around Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, D.C., but didn't spot the trend. The agency's acting administrator promised improvement and said the agency will complete a review of data from other airports with heavy helicopter traffic within the next couple weeks.

Investigators are still in the early stages of determining why the jetliner and helicopter collided as the plane prepared to land Jan. 29. The final report likely won't be ready until sometime next year.

Here's a look at the collision:

What happened?

American Airlines Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kansas, was carrying 60 passengers and four crew members as it approached to land on a clear night. Nearby, the Army Black Hawk, with three soldiers on board, was practicing emergency evacuation routes that would be used to ferry out key government officials in an emergency.

Investigators have said the helicopter crew was wearing night-vision goggles that would have limited their peripheral vision.

A few minutes before the twin-engine jet was to land, air traffic controllers asked if it could use a shorter runway. The pilots agreed, and flight-tracking sites show the plane turned to adjust its approach. The FAA has since permanently banned that particular helicopter route when planes are using that runway.

Shortly before the collision, a controller got an alert saying the plane and Black Hawk were converging and asked the helicopter if it had the jet in sight. The military pilot said yes and asked for “visual separation” with the jet for a second time, allowing it to fly closer than if the pilots couldn't see the plane.

Controllers approved the request roughly 20 seconds before the collision.

The National Transportaty Safety Board has said there were 85 dangerous close calls between planes and helicopters near Reagan National in the three years before the crash, and collision alarms had been ordering pilots to take evasive action at least once a month since 2011.

The investigation

NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy told reporters last month that the Black Hawk's cockpit recorder suggested an incomplete radio transmission may have left the crew unable to hear air traffic control tell them, just before the crash, to move behind the jet. She said the crew was unable to hear the words “pass behind the” because its microphone key was pressed.

The radio altitude of the helicopter was 278 feet (85 meters) at the time, which would put it above its 200-foot (61-meter) limit for that location.

Cockpit conversations a few minutes before the crash indicate that the crew may not have had accurate altitude readings, with the helicopter’s pilot calling out that they were at 300 feet (91 meters) but the instructor pilot saying 400 feet (122 meters), Homendy said.

That generation of Black Hawks typically has two types of altimeters: one relying on barometric pressure and the other on radio frequency signals bounced off the ground. Helicopter pilots typically rely on barometric readings while flying, but the helicopter’s black box captures its radio altitude.

Almost immediately after the crash, President Donald Trump faulted the helicopter for flying too high. He also blamed federal diversity and inclusion efforts, particularly regarding air traffic controllers. When pressed by reporters, the president could not back up those claims. A few days later, he blamed an "obsolete" air traffic control system.

The victims

The Army identified the Black Hawk crew as Capt. Rebecca M. Lobach, 28, of Durham, North Carolina; Staff Sgt. Ryan Austin O'Hara, 28, of Lilburn, Georgia; and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, 39, of Great Mills, Maryland. O'Hara was the crew chief, and Eaves and Lobach were pilots.

Among the jet's passengers were several members of the Skating Club of Boston who were returning from a development camp for elite junior skaters that followed the 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita. A figure skating tribute event in Washington raised $1.2 million for the crash victims' families.

Others included a group of hunters returning from a guided trip in Kansas; four members of a steamfitters’ union in suburban Maryland; nine students and parents from schools in Fairfax County, Virginia; and two Chinese nationals.

What about other crashes this year?

A string of recent crashes and a near miss have brought attention to air travel, which remains overwhelmingly safe.

On Jan. 31 a medical transport jet crashed into a Philadelphia neighborhood, killing seven. On Feb. 6 a small commuter aircraft went down off western Alaska, killing 10. On Feb. 17, a Delta plane crashed and flipped over upon landing in Toronto but everyone survived. Two small planes collided in midair in Arizona on Feb. 19, killing two people.

And there was a scary moment Feb. 25 in Chicago when a Southwest Airlines plane came within 200 feet of crashing into another plane crossing the runway before it aborted its landing to avoid it.

The Washington collision was the deadliest plane crash in the U.S. since 2001, when a jet slammed into a New York City neighborhood just after takeoff, killing all 260 people on board and five more on the ground.