A year later, Lane and other family members of the victims have channeled grief into advocacy. NTSB blames ‘deep’ systemic failures for deadly midair collision near Washington, D.C. After a yearlong investigation, the National Transportation Safety Board did not find a single cause for the deadly collision near Washington, D.C., but blamed the crash on multiple systemic failures. And you channeled it into positive energy to make a difference.”The Trump administration has made temporary restrictions on helicopter traffic around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport airspace permanent. ‘There’s a serious safety issue,’ investigators say following DCA midair collision The January midair collision with the Army helicopter happened as the American Airlines jet was about to land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. But family members of the crash victims say there’s no reason to wait.