The United States admits its responsibility in the plane collision which left 67 dead near Washington

• Video: A plane carrying 64 people collides with a military helicopter and falls into a river near Washington, United States.
• Context: American, Russian figure skaters among victims of Washington plane crash

The 209-page text was filed by the Justice Department as part of a civil suit filed by family members of one of the passengers killed on the plane against the U.S. government and commercial airlines responsible for operating the plane. The content was obtained by AFP.

“The United States admits that it owed Plaintiffs a duty of care, which it failed to comply with, directly causing this tragic accident,” the document states.

The accident occurred on January 29, when an American Eagle plane, coming from Wichita, Kansas, approached the runway at Ronald Reagan National Airport. At the same time, a Black Hawk military helicopter, operated by the U.S. Army, collided with the commercial plane, causing them to fall into the Potomac River.

The disaster became the deadliest accident involving a U.S. commercial flight in decades and led to the adoption of stricter air safety protocols at the airport.

In the document presented to the Court, the government acknowledges that the safety risks “of a mid-air collision cannot be reduced to zero” in the airspace outside Reagan Airport. He also admits that the Black Hawk pilots failed “to maintain the vigilance necessary to spot and avoid other aircraft, and that their failure was a real and direct cause of the accident.”

The text also highlights the inappropriate behavior of an air traffic controller at the airport, claiming that he “did not comply” with current federal regulations.

Earlier this year, a preliminary investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) indicated that faulty instruments and communications failures may have been contributing factors in the crash. The full investigation, which could take up to a year, is still ongoing and the final report has not yet been released.