American Airlines Flight 5342 and Army Black Hawk Mid-Air Collision in DCA

    There was a recent mid air collision that affected the aviation industry severely. On January 29, 2025, American Airlines Flight 5342 and the Army Black Hawk helicopter experienced a mid-air collision which killed everyone involved. The Black Hawk was performing trainings using night-vision goggles and asked for visual separation many times and the American Airlines aircraft was instructed to use a shorter runway at the Ronald Reagan Washington (DCA) airport by controllers. Based on the early findings of this investigation regarding the crash, it has been determined so far that trainings should not have been conducted where the Black Hawk was if the shorter runway was active and in use (Funk, 2025). Although it is early in the investigation, it is determined that radio communications and lack of visual separations with inaccurate equipment altitude reading may have contributed to this tragic mid-air collision. 

    As a aviation safety officer, the impact that this mid-air collision may affect when an aircraft is able to request visual separation. I feel like the standard for requesting visual separation at night time has to be changed due to the risks of increased mid-air collisions. Another way this collision will impact the aviation industry is that it may require air traffic controllers to give the positions of aircrafts prior to giving instructions to a different aircraft. This would ensure that each aircraft is aware of who is around them. This article contributes to a positive culture of information sharing by allowing people to understand that there were multiple contributions which should have been corrected that led to this accident and not one person is to be blamed for. 

Reference: 

Funk, J. (2025, March 27). What we know about the deadly air crash between a passenger jet and a US Army helicopter. AP News. https://apnews.com/article/dc-plane-crash-investigation-ntsb-faa-9da42d267bf44049ecc57763961b0ac4