Robert A. Clifford, founder and senior partner of Clifford Law Offices, who represents several victims of the January 29 crash of an Army helicopter and American Airlines regional jet near Reagan National Airport (DCA), echoed National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chair Jennifer Homendy’s sentiments and said, “It should not take a tragedy that led to the loss of 67 lives to correct the safety issues that had been going on for years around Reagan National Airport.” Clifford is also Lead Counsel in the pending litigation in federal District Court in Chicago in the crash of a Boeing 737 MAX8 jet in Ethiopia six years ago.
Homendy held a press conference today, March 11, 2025, releasing the NTSB’s current fact-finding results in a preliminary report along with urgent safety recommendations to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regarding the midair collision on January 29 over the Potomac River. Clifford said he found it highly disturbing and unacceptable that Homendy reported at least one extremely close call resulting in Traffic Collision and Avoidance System (TCAS) Resolution Alerts (a/k/a “RA’s”) between helicopters and commercial aircraft at DCA every month from 2011 through 2024 (13 continuous years), reports of which were available to the FAA and the many commercial aircraft operators that operate at DCA the entire time, yet nothing was done by the FAA to correct the situation(s) causing these near-misses.
Homendy also pointed out that the FAA’s ASAP voluntary reporting system contained 15,214 reported close proximity events (less than one [1] nautical mile horizontal separation and less than 400 feet vertical separation) between commercial airplanes and military helicopters at DCA from October 2021 through December 2024. As a result of that data and this accident, she said the NTSB today issued urgent safety recommendations to the FAA asking that they prohibit helicopter operations on Route 4 when Runway 15/33 is in use at DCA. Clifford agrees with this safety recommendation and notes it is consistent with his position since this accident happened.
“Airlines and the FAA have the highest duty of care to the flying public,” Clifford said. “That level of safety clearly wasn’t provided to the passengers of AA/PSA Flight 5342 here. With thousands of close calls around Reagan National Airport that have been documented over the years, it is sheer recklessness and a lack of conscience to ignore these statistics for at least 13 years. Our hearts go out to all of the families who lost loved ones in a crash that clearly was preventable and could have been avoided.”
Clifford Law Offices, a leading aviation firm based in Chicago, was the first law firm to file (Feb. 18, 2025) pre-case claims against the FAA and the U.S. Army in the Jan. 29 midair crash of a PSA regional jet with 64 on board and a military helicopter on a training mission with three pilots on board. Clifford Law Offices also sent preservation letters to American Airlines and its regional carrier, PSA, as well as Sikorsky Aircraft and Collins Aerospace, to preserve all evidence involving the mid-air crash.
Clifford Law Offices filed a government-issued “Form 95” that is required to present claims against the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) for property damage, personal injury, or wrongful death allegedly caused by a federal employee’s negligence or wrongful act occurring within the scope of the employee’s federal employment. The $250 million claims are directed against multiple governmental agencies that may be responsible. The NTSB has reported that staffing in the tower of air traffic controllers (ATC) was “not normal” at the time of the nighttime collision and that there were communication lapses between the ATC and the aircraft. The helicopter in the collision was operated by the Army and was manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft.
The government has six months from the filing date in February to act upon the claims, and, if rejected or not acted upon within that time, plaintiffs have the right, in the next two years, to file lawsuits in federal district court that would be heard by a judge. Jury trials are not allowed in civil wrongful death actions against the government.
Clifford said he is considering the next steps in the filing of lawsuits against others such as American Airlines and Sikorsky. Clifford Law Offices also has initiated an investigation into potential claims of willful neglect by the airlines themselves for the many years of near-misses of commercial airplanes and helicopters that went ignored in the airspace near Reagan National Airport. Today’s disclosures by the NTSB corroborate the concerns about willful neglect of the aviation operators at DCA to the traveling public.
The NTSB is responsible for finding the probable cause of aviation crashes. On Tuesday, March 11, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy updated the public on the latest facts available.
For further information, contact Clifford Law Offices Communications Partner Pamela Sakowicz Menaker at 847-721-0909 (cell) or pammenaker@cliffordlaw.com.