Transportation

A Single Air Controller Oversaw Helicopters, Planes During Fatal DC Crash

Emergency crews respond to the crash site near the Potomac River after a passenger jet collided with a helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) in January.

Photographer: Alex Wroblewski/Bloomberg

An air traffic controller should have warned an American Airlines Group Inc. jet that there was a US Army Black Hawk in the vicinity before the two craft collided midair near Washington in January, a Federal Aviation Administration official said.

The employee should have informed the American CRJ-700 regional jet that the “targets were likely to merge,” said Nick Fuller, acting deputy chief operating officer of operations for the FAA’s Air Traffic Organization.