US Names Cause of Air Crash That Killed Russian Figure Skaters

The main cause of the crash in the United States of an American Airlines passenger plane, which had Russian figure skaters on board, was a military helicopter that was in the way. This was reported by The Washington Post with reference to the head of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Jennifer Homendy.

It was noted that the route of the Black Hawk helicopter was planned incorrectly, and the tragedy could have been prevented.

“This helicopter route should not have been there at all,” said Homendy.

The investigation found that a few minutes before the plane crash, the airspace around the airport was overloaded. The air traffic controller was managing five helicopters and six planes, working for more than five hours without additional assistance, the NTSB reported. At the same time, warnings of an impending collision sounded nine times in the 18 minutes before the disaster.

Due to limited visibility and inaccurate data transmission, the helicopter crew likely mistook the plane for a commercial airliner that they were supposed to avoid. The plane«s crew did not receive warnings about the helicopter from air traffic controllers.

On 30 January 2025, in Washington, a Bombardier CRJ700 passenger plane operated by PSA Airlines, flying from Wichita, Kansas, collided with a UH-60 Black Hawk military helicopter while approaching Reagan National Airport. As a result, the airliner split into two parts and fell into the Potomac River.

There were 28 figure skaters on board the plane, including the 1994 world figure skating champions Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova (originally from Leningrad), the bronze medalist of the USSR pairs skating championship Inna Volyanskaya, and former Russian figure skater Alexander Kirsanov. All of them died. There were 67 victims in total.