ATC Communications Between Jet, Army Black Hawk Face Scrutiny in D.C. Midair

Accident raises questions about what role radio frequencies may have played in pilot awareness of other aircraft.

Meg Godlewski

Thursday, January 30, 2025 at 04:08 PM ET

Verified

Edited By: tccjeremy

Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport [FLYING file photo]

Key Takeaways:

A midair collision between an American Eagle jet and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport resulted in all aboard both aircraft presumed dead.
Investigators are scrutinizing air traffic control communications and the complex Washington D.C. airspace, which features designated helicopter routes and unique separation procedures.
A central focus of the investigation is the use of disparate radio frequencies (UHF for military, VHF for civilian, separate for helicopters), which may have prevented pilots from hearing each other's direct transmissions.
Evidence, including a collision video, suggests the helicopter pilot may have misidentified the regional jet they were instructed to visually separate from.

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Accident Investigators trying to determine the cause of Wednesday night’s midair collision between an American Eagle CRJ-700 and a U.S. Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (KDCA) are scrutinizing, among other things, the audio communication between air traffic control (ATC) and the accident aircraft.

On board the American Eagle Flight 5342 were 60 passengers and four crew en route from Wichita, Kansas, to KDCA. The helicopter, which was based at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, had three service members on board and was on a training mission. Officials said no survivors are expected to be found.