U.S. Admits Liability in D.C.-Area Jet-Helicopter Crash

The U.S. government has admitted liability for a midair collision in January between a regional passenger jet and an Army helicopter near Washington, D.C., that killed all 67 people aboard both aircraft and marked the deadliest commercial aviation disaster on American soil in more than two decades.

The crash occurred on January 29 as American Eagle Flight 5342, a CRJ700 jet operated by PSA Airlines on behalf of American Airlines, approached Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Virginia from Wichita, Kansas. The plane, carrying 60 passengers and four crew members, collided with a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter on a routine training mission with three soldiers aboard. Both aircraft plummeted into the icy Potomac River, and recovery efforts retrieved at least 28 bodies from the water, officials said.

In a court filing Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Washington, Department of Justice lawyers acknowledged the government's responsibility in one of several lawsuits brought by victims' families. "The United States admits that it owed a duty of care to plaintiffs, which it breached, thereby proximately causing the tragic accident," the document stated. It cited failures...