Appointed by US President Trump, the National Transportation Safety Board will hold a three-day investigative hearing July 30 through Aug. 1 on the Jan. 29 mid-air collision between a PSA Airlines CRJ700 regional jetliner and a U.S. Army Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
The hearing will be held at the NTSB boardroom in Washington, where it will also be livestreamed.
The two pilots, two flight attendants, and 60 passengers aboard the airplane, operated as American Airlines Flight 5342, were killed, along with the helicopter’s three crew members.
“These families are entitled to further answers after six months of waiting, and hopefully some of them will come from this investigative hearing,” said Robert A. Clifford, founder and senior partner of Clifford Law Offices, who represents numerous clients in the Jan. 29 crash. He is also the Lead Counsel in the 2019 Boeing crash in Ethiopia, which is currently before U.S. District Court Judge Jorge Alonso in Chicago.
On Feb. 18, 2025, Clifford Law Offices filed pre-case claims against the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the U.S. Army involving the Jan. 29 midair crash of American Airlines Flight 5342 with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter, killing all 67 on board both aircraft. The claims were filed on behalf of the widow and children of Casey Crafton, 40, of Connecticut. He died as a result of the collision, leaving behind his wife and three young sons. Casey’s brother, Dailey, will be in attendance at the hearing and available to speak to the press.
Clifford Law Offices filed a government-issued “Form 95” that is required to present claims against the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) for property damage, personal injury, or wrongful death allegedly caused by a federal employee’s negligence or wrongful act occurring within the scope of the employee’s federal employment. The $250 million claims are directed against multiple governmental agencies that may be responsible for this crash. The NTSB has reported that staffing in the tower of air traffic controllers (ATC) was “not normal” at the time of the nighttime collision and that there were communication lapses between the ATC and the aircraft. The Black Hawk helicopter in the crash was operated by the Army and was manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft.
The government has six months to act upon the claims, and if rejected or not acted upon by August 26, plaintiffs have the right, within the next two years, to file lawsuits in federal district court, which a judge would hear. Clifford Law Offices intends to file such claims next month.
Jury trials are not allowed in civil wrongful death actions against the government. The notice of a claim against the FAA was filed at the regional FAA offices in Des Plaines, Illinois. A pre-case Form 95 claim also was filed against the U.S. Army at its Fort Meade, Maryland, offices in this matter.
