Congress released a bipartisan report on Monday putting the U.S. Army at fault over the Jan. 29 mid-air collision of a civilian airliner and an Army Black Hawk helicopter.
Subcommittee on Military and Foreign Affairs Chairman William Timmons (R-SC) and ranking member Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA) released their report, “The DCA Incident: Assessing the Military’s Role in the National Airspace Tragedy,” nearly 11 months after the crash. The report blamed a lack of communication between the Army and DCA and the neglect of several precautions on the fatal crash, several of which were the fault of the Army.
In a joint statement, Timmons and Subramanyam called for changes at the Army, saying the crash and investigation showed a need for vigilance.
“The tragic accident at DCA on January 29th and thirty near misses overall have revealed that the military’s current operations fall woefully short of keeping both military personnel and American civilians safe in Washington, D.C. airspace. Several briefings on this issue have highlighted the pressing need for clearer military flight protocols, enhanced training, and regular audits of flight operations and capabilities within the DoD,” they said.
“It is crucial that military personnel are given the tools and training they need to navigate this complex airspace and prevent accidents and miscommunications like these from ever happening again,” the duo continued, adding that it was committed to the investigation and further oversight.
GOVERNMENT ADMITS FAULT IN REAGAN NATIONAL AIRPORT CRASH: ‘WHOLLY AVOIDABLE TRAGEDY’
Among the findings of the report was that the night vision goggles worn by the Black Hawk pilots obscured their vision, a key transponder in the Black Hawk was not broadcasting during the fateful flight, the Army’s knowledge of DCA airspace is lacking, and that the DoD to DCA hotline was offline.
Earlier this month, the U.S. government admitted fault in the January crash. The Justice Department wrote that the United States “admits that it owed a duty of care to Plaintiffs, which it breached, thereby proximately causing the tragic accident on January 29, 2025.”
