Loved ones of the people killed in January’s midair collision between an American Airlines flight and a Black Hawk helicopter near Ronald Reagan National Airport wore blue ribbons with the phrase "safer skies for all" at a Senate hearing Thursday about the crash.
"This has been the hardest two months of my life,” said Tim Lilley. “The hardest day of my life was the 29th.”
Jan. 29 was the day Lilley’s son Sam — a pilot and the first officer of the commercial airplane — died in the collision over the Potomac River.
"His career was really taking off,” Lilley said. “His fiancée was someone that we really loved to be around. I was really looking forward to seeing what their children were going to turn out to be like, because they wanted to start a family right away. It's not going to happen now, and it's just devastating."
We've got the news you need to know to start your day. Sign up for the First & 4Most morning newsletter — delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up here.
Dailey Crafton lost his brother, Casey. He said the night of his brother’s death was "just utter disbelief.”
"When my dad called, I was like ‘Nah, it's gotta be something else,’ but it wasn't,” he said.
Information about DCA’s operations before and after the collision was brought up in the Senate hearing. Acting Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Chris Rocheleau referenced the National Transportation Safety Board report that DCA had 15,214 “close proximity incidents” between commercial airplanes and helicopters from October 2021 through December 2024.
"I'm very concerned about what we've learned in the subsequent investigation both from the NTSB as well as our own reviews that we immediately overtook. Clearly something was missed," Rocheleau said at the hearing.
There was new information that, after the crash, the U.S. Secret Service and U.S. Navy tested anti-drone technology near the airport, causing a number of faulty alerts for planes about nearby aircraft.
The U.S. Army has continued flying some helicopters near the airport with tracking systems known as ADS-B Out turned off.
“If today, another accident occurs over DCA with another helicopter that had ADS-B Out turned off, the Army will have very direct responsibility for that,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R- Texas, said at the hearing. “And I am at a loss to come up with any justification for risking the lives of the traveling public with that decision."
The NTSB said it is committed to delivering a final report on the crash at DCA within a year. The FAA said it is requiring all aircraft close to the airport to broadcast their positions with “very limited exceptions.”
