The country was in shock following the deadly crash that killed 67 people in January when a plane that had departed from Wichita collided with an Army helicopter as it prepared to land in Washington, D.C. 

The three Army personnel, four plane crew members and 60 passengers all died in the collision, making it America’s deadliest plane crash in over two decades. They included young figure skaters, their parents and coaches who had been attending a National Development Camp following the 2025 Prevagen U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita. 

The victims also included several people from Kansas including one Wichita State alumna and Washington D.C.-based civil rights lawyer, Kiah Duggins. 

Following the crash, the National Transportation Safety Board began an investigation to determine its cause. On March 11, 30 days after the crash, the NTSB released its preliminary report. 

The preliminary report

The NTSB report summarized what happened the night of the crash. 

It said the Army helicopter originated from Davison Army Airfield in Virginia “for the purpose of the pilot’s annual standardization evaluation with the use of night vision goggles.” According to the report, weather conditions in the area were suitable for the goggles to be used. 

Both aircraft’s flight data recorders and cockpit voice recorders were recovered from the Potomac River by FBI divers and their data was downloaded. 

The NTSB used information from the FDR, CVR, radar data and communications to determine the history of the flights leading up to the crash. It also obtained video from several sources showing the collision. 

According to the report, all the external lights on both aircraft appeared to be operating. 

In the moments leading up to the crash, two different instructions from the control tower were likely not heard by the helicopter crew, the report said. 

The control tower was operating with five staff, which the FAA has said is “not normal” and low for the amount of traffic at the time, according to a report obtained by the Associated Press. 

Timeline, as outlined in the preliminary report

At about 8:15 p.m., Flight 5342 began its initial descent. About 15 minutes later, the helicopter began flying south, toward the D.C. airport. 

A few minutes later, the helicopter checked in with the control tower and then requested a specific flight path, which the control tower approved. The helicopter then followed that path, flying over the Potomac River. 

Around 8:39 p.m., Flight 5342 was cleared to begin its descent. It did so, making contact with the control tower a few minutes later. 

At 8:45 p.m., the helicopter was told to descend by 100 feet, to which the crew responded that they would. One minute later, the control tower said that Flight 5342 was circling its runway. 

According to the report, however, the helicopter crew might not have heard this.

“The word ‘circling’ is heard in ATC communications as well as the airplane’s CVR, but not on the helicopter’s CVR,” the report said. 

A few seconds after the direction was given, the helicopter requested to “maintain visual separation,” meaning that the control tower used visual observation, not radar, to ensure the aircraft kept its distance. Visual separation is typically applied when other approved separation, such as through the use of radar, is assured.

At around 8:47, about 20 seconds before the aircraft collided, the control tower asked the helicopter if it saw the plane. This was audible on both CVRs, according to the report. The plane also received an automated alert about the close traffic.

Seventeen seconds before the collision, the control tower instructed the helicopter to pass behind the plane. 

The report said, “CVR data from the helicopter indicated that the portion of the transmission that stated ‘pass behind the’ may not have been received by the PAT25 crew, as the transmission was stepped on by a 0.8-second mic key from PAT25 (helicopter).”

Audio from the helicopter indicated the crew believed they had been instructed to move to the left.

Seven seconds before impact, Flight 5342 started its final descent. One second before impact, the plane “increase(d) its pitch,” or pointed upward. 

The report stated that while the control tower was clearing another plane to land, “audible reactions could be heard from the other tower controllers as they observed the collision.” 

The emergency response

Along with details of the crash itself, the NTSB preliminary report goes over the emergency response that followed.

Immediately after the crash, air traffic controllers “activated the alert phone,” the report said. 

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority operates Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. According to the report, MWAA Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting was notified of the crash around 8:48 p.m. 

Then, the runway was closed and rescue boats were launched into the river. The first victim was found in the Potomac River at 8:59 p.m.

More than ten agencies worked to recover the victims’ bodies, including the FBI, the Metropolitan Police Department, and the DC Fire and EMS Department. The District of Columbia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner conducted autopsies when victims’ bodies were recovered, with the exception of the soldiers, who were examined by the Armed Forces Medical Examiner. 

The aircraft were also recovered from the water and “the Army Corps of Engineers and the US Navy SUPSALV surveyed the accident site using sonar and divers with helmet cameras,” the report said.

The plane was “fragmented into several pieces” by the impact and had “impact water damage.” Depending on the tide, the wreckage was in depths between 1 foot and 8 feet.

The report details the condition of both aircraft, including “an approximate 2-ft-long section of one of the helicopter’s tail rotor blades was embedded” in part of the plane. 

The recovered aircraft were moved to a “secured hangar” at DCA. 

Additional context

The report also touches on “near midair collision events” between planes and helicopters at DCA, based on information volunteered by the airport along with Federal Aviation Administration data. 

The report said that most of the events, from 2011 to 2024, occurred as aircraft were approaching their landing. In over half of the instances in which a TCAS resolution advisory — a critical alert warning of a potential mid-air collision — was issued, “the helicopter may have been above the route altitude restriction.”  Two-thirds of these alerts also occurred at night.

There were a total of 944,179 commercial departures or arrivals at DCA from October 2021 to December 2024. During this period, there were “15,214 occurrences between commercial airplanes and helicopters in which there was a lateral separation distance of less than 1 nm (nautical miles, equal to about 1.15 miles or about 6,076 feet) and vertical separation of less than 400 ft.”

“There were 85 recorded events that involved a lateral separation less than 1,500 ft

and vertical separation less than 200 ft,” the report said.

According to SKYbrary Aviation Safety, the minimum vertical separation for an aircraft when flying below 29,000 feet is 1,000 feet

Recommendations and ongoing investigation

Following the crash of Flight 5342, some safety precautions were put in place. 

The FAA prohibited helicopters from operating over the Potomac River near DCA, “with exceptions for lifesaving medical, active law enforcement, air defense, or presidential transport missions.”

If these exceptions are used, “civilian aircraft will not be allowed in the area.” The restriction is in place until March 31. 

The NTSB recommended that the FAA permanently prohibit helicopter operations near DCA when certain runways are being used and to designate an alternate route. 

The NTSB’s investigation into the cause of the crash is ongoing.