Aircraft Down Investigation
Materials Engineer Mike Meadows looks at training samples on a microelectronic microscope in the Materials Laboratory of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026, in Washington.
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A daylong hearing on Tuesday should make clear what played the biggest role in causing last January’s midair collision near Washington D.C. that killed 67 people. The National Transportation Safety Board will recommend what should be done to prevent similar tragedies. An American Airlines jet flying from Wichita, Kansas, and an Army Black Hawk helicopter ran into each other and plummeted into the icy Potomac River on Jan. 29, 2025. The Federal Aviation Administration has taken a number of steps to ensure that helicopters and planes no longer share the same crowded airspace around the nation’s capital. But the NTSB will recommend additional action, and the families of the victims say they hope that leads to meaningful changes.
