What happened
On the evening of January 29, 2025, a mid-air collision occurred approximately 0.5 miles southeast of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA). The accident involved a US Army Sikorsky UH-60L helicopter, operating under callsign PAT25, and an MHI RJ Aviation (formerly Bombardier) CL-600-2C10 (CRJ700), registration N709PS, operated by PSA Airlines as American Airlines flight 5342.
The helicopter was conducting a standardization evaluation flight using night vision goggles, having traveled from Davison Army Airfield. The crew was cleared by the DCA tower to transition through specific helicopter routes over the Potomac River. Simultaneously, the CRJ700 was performing a scheduled domestic flight from Wichita, Kansas, and was executing a circling approach to runway 33 after being reassigned from runway 1 by air traffic control.
As the aircraft paths converged near the runway 33 approach corridor, the controller issued a traffic advisory to the helicopter crew regarding the airplane. Although the helicopter crew initially reported having the aircraft in sight and requested visual separation, the two aircraft collided at an altitude of approximately 278 feet above mean sea level. The impact occurred over the Potomac River in southwest Washington, DC. The collision resulted in 65 fatalities, including all 3 crew members on the helicopter and all 63 persons (2 pilots, 2 flight attendants, and 60 passengers) on the airplane. Both aircraft were destroyed.
Findings
Investigations into the collision identified a critical communication failure during the final moments of the flight. While the controller attempted to instruct the helicopter to pass behind the airplane, a brief 0.8-second radio transmission by the helicopter pilot blocked the receipt of the specific instruction to pass behind the aircraft. This prevented the helicopter crew from receiving the full instruction necessary to maintain separation as the flight paths converged.