The family of one of the 67 people killed when an airliner collided with an Army helicopter over Washington, D.C., on Wednesday sued the government and the airlines involved, accusing them of failing to recognize the warning signs after more than 30 documented near misses in the area. Other families are expected to join this first lawsuit that seeks to hold the Federal Aviation Administration, the Army, American Airlines and its regional partner, PSA Airlines, accountable for the deadliest U.S. plane crash since 2001. PSA Airlines operated Flight 5342 that crashed Jan. 29. The lawsuit says the airlines and government agencies “utterly failed in their responsibilities to the traveling public.” The FAA didn't immediately respond but the airlines and Army both said they are focused on supporting the families who lost loved ones in the crash and ensuring the safety of their flights. The Army declined to discuss the details of the lawsuit, but American and PSA defended their actions and said they will fight any claim that they caused or contributed to this accident. The widow of Casey Crafton from Connecticut, who is raising three young boys without her husband, filed the lawsuit. Her lawyers also represent the majority of the families of people who died in the crash. Crafton's brother read a statement from his widowed sister-in-law, Rachael Crafton, during a news conference Wednesday, describing the family's despair. “Nearly eight months ago, our lives were shattered in a moment, and the grief has been unimaginable. The future we dreamed about was taken away from us,” Dailey Crafton said. The National Transportation Safety Board has already highlighted a long list of things that likely contributed to the crash, although the final report identifying the cause won't be ready until next year. The lawsuit says the airlines failed in their duty to protect the passengers because they were aware of numerous incidents in which helicopters flew close to commercial aircraft around Reagan airport but failed to adequately train pilots and didn't inform them about the helicopter routes or take other action to mitigate the risks. Other airline policies, such as allowing pilots to accept an alternative runway that intersects with the helicopter route and heavily scheduling flights in the second half of every hour, may have contributed. “"They ran blatantly for years, many red lights here, by allowing these planes to operate in the navigable space at DCA, knowing that there was massive congestion, that there was a massive intersection between military traffic, regarding runways that were unique and required special training that they failed to provide to their pilots,” said lawyer Bob Clifford, who is representing the families. The lawsuit says the PSA pilots should have reacted sooner when they received an alert about traffic in the area 19 seconds before the crash instead of waiting until the last second to pull up. The lawsuit says a yellow icon appeared on the pilots' warning system showing the relative direction and altitude of the Army helicopter. The PSA pilots would also have heard controllers warn the helicopter about their aircraft although the controller never warned the PSA pilots directly. Doug Lane lost his wife, Christine, and his son, Spencer — an aspiring Olympic figure skater — in the crash. Addressing the news conference, Lane urged investigators to quickly determine what went wrong to prevent future accidents. “We’ve also turned our grief into action,” Lane said of the victims' families. “We collaborated with Congress on critical air safety reforms. We secured a much needed set of oversight investigations into the FAA, and we will not rest until similar investigations are underway into the U.S. Army.” Among the jet’s passengers were several members of the Skating Club of Boston, who were returning from an elite junior skaters' camp following the 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas. A figure skating tribute event in Washington raised $1.2 million for the crash victims’ families. Others on the flight from Wichita included a group of hunters returning from a guided trip in Kansas; four members of a steamfitters’ union in suburban Maryland; nine students and parents from schools in Fairfax County, Virginia; and two Chinese nationals. There were also four crew members on the plane and three people in the helicopter's crew who were killed.