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The United States government has admitted it was liable for a deadly midair collision between a military helicopter and a passenger jet outside Washington earlier this year, killing 67 people.
According to AFP, the 209-page court document filing by the US Department of Justice was part of a civil lawsuit by one of the passengers killed on the jet against the US government and the commercial airlines operating the plane.
“The United States admits that it owed a duty of care to Plaintiffs, which it breached, thereby proximately causing the tragic accident,” the document begins.
The crash happened on January 29 as an American Eagle flight from Wichita was landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport when it collided with a US Army Black Hawk helicopter, sending both aircraft into the icy Potomac River.
The disaster marked the deadliest crash of a US commercial flight in decades and prompted tighter air safety protocols at Reagan Airport.
In the court documents, the government admitted to the failure of the US Army pilots of the Black Hawk “to maintain vigilance so as to see and avoid other aircraft, and their failure was a cause-in-fact and proximate cause of the accident.”
It also admitted that safety risks “of midair collision cannot be reduced to zero” in the airspace outside Reagan Airport.
The court filing also cited improper actions by an air traffic controller at the airport, saying they did not adhere to federal regulations.
Earlier this year, a preliminary NTSB probe cited faulty instruments and communication lapses as possible factors, noting the helicopter did not clearly receive air traffic control warnings before the collision.
The full investigation, which can take up to a year, is ongoing, with a final report still pending.
