A memorial bench honoring the victims of last year’s midair collision between an American Airlines regional jet and an Army helicopter will be placed alongside the Potomac River in a park a short distance from the crash site, Rep. Don Beyer (D-Virginia) and Alexandria Mayor Alyia Gaskins announced.
The bench will feature plaques bearing the names of the 67 people who died on Jan. 29, 2025, when the American flight approaching Reagan National Airport from Kansas was clipped by the Black Hawk making a low-altitude training run along the Potomac.
“The 67 lives lost on flight 5432 and the U.S. Army helicopter were far more than a number,” Beyer said in a statement Thursday, the anniversary of the crash. “They were parents and children, partners and friends, colleagues and neighbors — people who carried dreams, responsibilities, laughter, and love. Their journeys ended far too soon, and their absence leaves a silence no words can fill.”
The memorial will be located in the northeastern portion of Alexandria’s Rivergate City Park, about eight miles south of the airport.
“Alexandria will always hold those we lost on Flight 5342 and PAT 25 — and their loved ones — in our hearts, and it is my hope that this memorial will fulfill that promise,” Gaskins said. “It will serve as a place for quiet reflection, remembrance, and healing.”
The lawmakers announced the memorial two days after the National Transportation Safety Board head Jennifer Homendy told reportersthat a review of the crash by investigators found that it was “100 percent preventable.” The investigation pointed to numerous systemic failures and faulted the Federal Aviation Administration for routinely ignoring warnings from its air traffic controllers and the U.S. Army for not adequately warning pilots about possible malfunctions with their equipment, among other factors.
“We have an entire tower who took it upon themselves to try to raise concerns over and over, and over and over again, only to get squashed, by management and everybody above them within FAA,” Homendy said. “For years, no one listened.”
The memorial, Beyer noted in his statement, comes as family members of the victims and members of Congress call for safety improvements in the airspace.
“As we continue to build on our federal response to ensure this kind of tragedy never happens again, this memorial is one step toward honoring those we lost,” he said.
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