By Quentin Hubner ’26
An MIT study in 2024 found that the odds of a person dying from commercial air travel in America is 1 in 13.7 million, but that wasn’t the case for American Eagle flight 5342.
On January 29, 2025, a CRJ-700ER aircraft departed Witchita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport at approximately 5:38 PM bound for Washington Ronald Reagan National Airport (DCA). As the pilots made their final approach, they planned to land on runway 01 at DCA. Bluestreak 5342 (call sign for American Eagle) is shown below as it makes its approach to runway 01. The red circle highlights Bluestreak 5342, the yellow circle highlights the army Black Hawk Helicopter (PAT 25), and the green circle highlights DCA.
VASAviation, YouTube
As Bluestreak 5342 approached runway 01, Air Traffic Control (ATC) asked if the pilots wanted to switch to runway 33, a shorter runway, but nonetheless still adequate for this plane. The pilots agreed and changed their approach. A short time later, ATC notified PAT 25, an Army Black Hawk Helicopter, that Bluestreak 5342 would be in its vicinity. ATC gave its location, plane type, altitude, and its expected runway. PAT 25 requested and was granted visual separation, a method in which pilots maintain a safe distance by visually observing other aircraft. Not too long after, ATC received an audible conflict alert warning, which indicates that two aircraft are too close. The point in which the conflict alert happened is shown below (note that JIA5342 is Bluestreak 5342).
VASAviation, YouTube
After the conflict alert, ATC asked if PAT 25 had the plane in sight. PAT 25 responded saying it did have the plane in-sight and again requested visual separation, which was approved by ATC. Moments later at 8:48 PM, PAT 25 and Bluestreak 5342 collided and exploded. The debris fell into the Potomac River, and sadly everyone onboard both aircraft died.
It will take months for the full report to be published by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on this incident, but this hasn’t stopped the aviation community from making assumptions. One of the more popular predictions is that PAT 25 had the wrong plane in sight. Landing on runway 33 is not the usual arrival runway at DCA. PAT 25 could have assumed Bluestreak 5342 was landing on runway 01, and not runway 33. This assumption could have led PAT 25 to mistake Bluestreak 5342 for American Airlines flight 3130, which was approaching runway 01 at the time. If this is true, the crew of PAT 25 may have failed to see Bluestreak 5342 since it was only focused on American 3130.
Another cause for concern is the air traffic controller’s reliance on PAT 25 maintaining visual separation after the conflict alert. After the initial approval for visual separation, the controller expected PAT 25 to maintain a safe distance from Bluestreak 5342. After the conflict alert, it became clear that PAT 25 was not keeping a safe distance. The controller should have noticed that PAT 25 was not maintaining separation and taken stronger action by telling them to change heading, decrease altitude, etc.
The last major fatal crash involving a commercial airline in the U.S. was in 2009 when 50 people died onboard Colgan Air flight 3407. That disaster was almost 16 years ago, and no one thought that anything so tragic would ever happen again. However, there were many warning signs. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and NTSB has documented multiple near mid-air collisions with commercial aircraft in the past two years, including American Airlines flight 2587 and a small Cessna at Austin; Sun Country flight 428 and Air Canada flight 776 at Los Angeles; United Airlines flight 1724 and Delta Airlines flight 1070 at Phoenix; and many more. The most alarming case occurred just 24 hours before this crash when PAT 11, a different army Black Hawk Helicopter, nearly collided with three commercial airliners on their final approach into DCA.
This tragic accident raises urgent questions: Why didn’t the FAA or the NTSB do anything to solve this problem? Why wasn’t there a change to how pilots and ATC are trained? Why didn’t they change the departing and arriving procedures at busy airports, especially DCA?
To make matters worse there is a major shortage in Air Traffic Controllers. As indicated by the Air Traffic Controller Union President, “10,800 certified controllers are out there … where there should be 14,335.” The shortage has caused controllers to be strained, fatigued, and overworked. These conditions make it hard for controllers to safely handle commercial aircraft in busy airspaces, creating the potential for them to make careless mistakes that can be costly.
The hope is that this incident is a wake-up call for the FAA and NTSB. The hope is that there is a change in aviation safety in America. The hope is that 67 lives are never lost to an aviation event like this ever again.