Government admits responsibility in Washington plane crash that left at least 67 dead

The government admitted responsibility for a mid-air collision between a military helicopter and a commercial airliner outside Washington that left 67 people dead earlier this year, according to a court document filed Wednesday.

The 209-page Justice Department document, accessed by AFP, was part of a civil lawsuit filed by relatives of one of the passengers killed in the plane against the government and the commercial airlines that operated the aircraft.

"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 accident occurred on Jan. 29 as an American Eagle plane from Wichita, Kansas, approached the runway at Ronald Reagan National Airport. At that time, a military Black Hawk helicopter operated by the U.S. Army collided with the plane, causing both aircraft to fall into the Potomac River.

The disaster became the deadliest crash of a U.S. commercial flight in decades and prompted stricter aviation safety protocols at the airport.

In court documents, the government acknowledged that the safety risks "of a mid-air collision cannot be reduced to zero" in the airspace outside Ronald Reagan Airport.

It also admitted the failure of the Black Hawk pilots "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 the failure of the Black Hawk pilots "to maintain vigilance to see and avoid other aircraft, and their failure was a factual cause and a direct cause of the accident.

The court filing also cited improper actions by an air traffic controller at the airport, noting that they "did not comply" with federal regulations.