Family of Midair Collision Victim Files $500M Claims against FAA, U.S. Army

The family of a victim from last month’s midair collision near Washington, D.C., has filed claims against the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the U.S. Army, seeking $250 million in damages from each.

Casey Crafton, 40, was among the 67 people killed when an American Airlines regional jet collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River on Jan. 29. His family filed the claims on Tuesday, arguing that negligence contributed to the fatal crash.

Crafton, a technical support manager for an aviation consulting firm, was returning home to his wife and three children when American Eagle Flight 5342, operated by PSA Airlines, struck a Sikorsky H-60 Black Hawk near Ronald Reagan National Airport. The jet carried 60 passengers and four crew members, while the helicopter had three U.S. Army personnel on board.

Robert Clifford, the family's attorney, stated: “Everything came together to create this preventable tragedy, we want to get to the bottom of it, and this gets us going.” He added that the $250 million figure per claim was set as a maximum, explaining, “You can always go down, you cannot go up.”

The FAA reported that an air traffic controller warned the Black Hawk, identified as "PAT25," about the approaching jet moments before the collision. However, an audio recording revealed no response from the helicopter. A video shared on social media appeared to show two sets of lights merging before a fireball erupted in the sky.

The crash, which sent both aircraft into the Potomac River, has drawn comparisons to the 1982 Air Florida Flight 90 disaster that killed 78 people. Investigators have not yet determined whether human error or technical failure caused the latest incident.

If the FAA and U.S. Army do not respond to the claims within six months, Crafton's family can proceed with a lawsuit.