DC Air Disaster: Final Minutes Revealed

In January 2025, a collision between

a Black Hawk military helicopter

and a passenger plane

over Washington DC shocks America.

- - Tower, did you see that?

67 people lost their lives.

What led to this catastrophe?

That was when I saw what looked like

a very big Roman candle, but up in the air.

Now, one year later,

investigators use forensic analysis to

examine the evidence

and piece together what happened

in those final minutes.

The margin of safety wasn't there.

This accident was preventable.

The collision comes at the start of a deadly year

for global aviation.

I was shocked that we survived.

What caused America's most fatal aviation disaster

in more than 20 years?

And as our skies grow increasingly crowded...

what can be done to safeguard the lives of passengers?

Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport

in Arlington, Virginia,

is one of the busiest airports in the United States.

Built in the early 1940s, it handles more than

800 takeoffs and landings every day.

Washington National Ronald Reagan Airport sits right on

the Potomac River, just less than a mile from the monuments

of Washington DC.

It's a very popular airport for the congressmen and senators

here because they can fly nonstop back to

their constituents in other states.

Commercial flights coming in to land follow the course of

the river, a route which provides a never-ending

spectacle for those on the ground.

If you're in the vicinity of Washington National Airport

at night, what you will see is a string of pearls of airplanes

lined up way out into the distance at regular

intervals coming in to land.

It's almost like a ballet or a dance, watching them come

in, especially when the weather is really good and clear

as it was that night.

On the evening of January 29, 2025...

American Airlines Flight 5342 was getting ready

to travel from Wichita, Kansas to Washington DC.

The flight was operated by PSA Airlines, and the route

from Wichita was relatively new,

opened just 12 months earlier.

Among the 64 passengers and crew were 28 people

returning from a figure skating training camp.

My name is Doug Lane.

My wife, Christine Conrad Lane, and my 16-year-old son,

Spencer Lane, were both on the flight that day.

Spencer was about nine months old when we adopted him.

From the moment I met him, I started to think of him

as my little adventurer because he was just always looking for

the next thing to get into.

He started later in figure skating than is traditionally

the case, so he was about 12 years old.

I don't know that anyone has ever done what he did in terms

of going from basic learn to skate in 2022 to winning

sectionals at the intermediate level in late 2024.

It's very competitive to get invited to that camp.

And it really just signifies the fact that you are somebody

who's on the radar as a prospect for Team USA.

I talked to Christine not long before they got underway.

She had mentioned to me some of the other people that were

on the flight, and, um...

and that was that. So they got underway.

The flight took off from Wichita at 6:39 PM

on a journey that was due to take two hours and 45 minutes.

At the controls were Captain Jonathan Campos

and 28-year-old First Officer Sam Lilley.

Sam's decision to become a professional pilot meant

following in his father's footsteps.

My name is Tim Lilley.

I've been a professional pilot since 1986.

Sam was a great character, actually.

He was a great kid growing up. We all loved him.

I was very proud when Sam told me he wanted to become a pilot,

and I was very proud when he accomplished it.

At 8:15 PM, Flight 5342 began its descent

into Washington DC.

As the jet approached Ronald Reagan National Airport,

it entered an airspace crisscrossed by a network

of helicopter routes.

The airspace over Washington DC

is extremely complex, so there is a large mix of

military helicopters and commercial airline traffic.

Airliners can't cross over into the east side of

the Potomac River because that's where the White House is.

At the same time as Flight 5342 was coming in to land,

US Army Black Hawk helicopter

Call Sign Priority Air Transport 25

was on a training mission.

It was following the Potomac River south along

helicopter routes 1 and 4.

- -

The helicopter had an instructor pilot,

another pilot that was receiving instruction,

and a crew chief.

It was a night training mission to fly around that area

and to also fly using night vision goggles.

At 8:43 PM, American Airlines Flight 5342

was 10.5 nautical miles

from Ronald Reagan National Airport.

It was scheduled to land at Runway 1.

But at the last moment, air traffic control asked it to

switch to Runway 33 because of wind conditions.

The helicopter is flying south

towards National Airport

along the Potomac River.

Meanwhile, you had an airliner

heading north to land

on Runway 33.

The helicopter crew was talking to

air traffic controllers

at Washington Reagan National Airport.

The controller pointed out traffic to the helicopter

and said that you've got an airliner that's circling to

land, and the helicopter crew acknowledged that transmission.

As Flight 5342 continued its descent,

on the ground was Ari Shulman.

He was in his car on his way home from church.

I was coming home unusually late.

I remember that the highway was very clear and also that

the air was very clear and that there was,

it was very dark and there was no moon.

So you could see the planes really, really well.

And I remember being struck by how unusually beautiful

and brilliant the planes were.

At 8:47 PM, air traffic control once again made contact

with the helicopter.

The controller instructed the Black Hawk

to avoid the passenger jet.

The airliner was now so low, it was clearly visible to

eyewitness Ari Shulman.

I was driving along the highway, and at a certain

point, I passed by the airport.

So it was then that I looked off to my left and saw this

plane coming in to land. I was very close to it.

It was brightly illuminated. I could see all of the details.

I could see the wing lights on the plane.

The two aircraft were just seconds apart.

What happened next was captured

on an airport surveillance camera.

That was when I saw what looked like a very big

Roman candle, but up in the air.

For a few moments, there is silence.

Until another pilot calls in.

- - .

Despite what has happened,

there are still planes and passengers in the air.

Air traffic control must determine how to land all

the aircraft safely while also alerting fire and rescue.

The US Coast Guard is among those contacted.

In charge of the station at Washington DC

is Lieutenant Commander Kim Jenish,

who has just finished for the day.

On January 29th, on that evening, I was already home

and had just finished dinner with my husband, settling in for

the evening, and the call came in at 8:52 PM.

Hearing the words, "A plane has just crashed into the river,"

felt unreal.

Kim and her colleagues know they must reach the crash site

as quickly as possible if they are to rescue any survivors.

On that night, the priority was to find anyone

in the water and pull them out.

The conditions were quite harsh between the wind,

the ice conditions, and the murky waters.

There were parts everywhere, and in addition to that,

there was a significant amount of fuel in the water.

And when looking out across the river, all you could see

was a whole line of emergency vehicles from everywhere.

I'd never seen

that many emergency vehicles concentrated in such

a small area.

Hundreds of miles away in Rhode Island is Doug Lane,

whose wife Christine and son Spencer were on the plane.

They were due to catch a connecting flight home.

I was kind of tracking their flight to DCA

just because, you know, I'm like that and I'd like to

just track and see what's happening.

And as the time was coming for the flight to land, I was kind

of refreshing the status

and it just kind of wasn't really updating.

I tried texting them and the texts weren't

going through. And so that was a little odd.

and there wasn't even an article, but there was just

a little like breaking news ticker across the top that

said, "Small plane crashed in the Potomac River."

And I immediately flashed back to talking with Christine about

how when you fly into DCA, you always have to go

over the Potomac.

And then just my breath was literally just taken away,

and my heart was kind of just beating out of my chest

at that point.

Tim Lilley, the father of First Officer Sam and himself