Government officials said there were failures made by an Army Black Hawk helicopter crew and an airport tower controller leading up to the helicopter’s fatal collision with an American Airlines jet just outside Washington, D.C., in January.

“The United States admits that it owed a duty of care to Plaintiffs, which it breached, thereby proximately causing the tragic accident on January 29, 2025,” the Justice Department said in a 209-page filing on Wednesday, Dec. 17.

Government officials went on to say: “The United States admits that the [helicopter] pilots failed to maintain vigilance so as to see and avoid the [passenger plane] and their failure to do so was a cause-in-fact and a proximate cause of the accident.”

The government’s filing was made in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., as part of a civil lawsuit filed by the family of a deceased passenger killed on the jet. A separate NTSB investigation is ongoing.

The AA Flight 5342, which was operated by American Eagle, collided mid-air with the military aircraft over the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport shortly before 9 p.m. local time on Jan. 29.

All 67 people aboard both aircrafts — 60 passengers and four flight crew members on the airplane, along with three Army members of the military on the helicopter — were killed. 

“Prior to, and on the night of the mid-air collision, [American Airlines and the military] knew, or should have known, that AE5342 was transiting one of the busiest airspaces in the United States, and they knew, or should have known, that the airport approaches, and the airspace in the vicinity of Washington D.C.’s Reagan National Airport (‘DCA’), presented certain safety risks, specifically including the possibility of a mid-air collision,” the filing reads.

“Near miss” collisions near and at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport are cited as what should have served as a warning.

“The United States admits that the airspace near DCA is busy at times and the risk of midair collision cannot be reduced to zero in the National Airspace System,” the filing says. 

The filing also states that “the United States admits pilots flying PAT25 failed to maintain proper and safe visual separation from AE5342.”

In a separate, 26-page filing released on Wednesday related to the crash, the plaintiffs argued, “ATC (Air Traffic Control) — understaffed and with one person performing two critical safety jobs at once, in violation of FAA policy — never warned Flight 5342’s pilots that PAT25 was converging on its path, again in violation of multiple FAA regulatory orders.”

PEOPLE reached out to the U.S. Army Public Affairs Office for comment, but did not immediately receive a response.

“The Army understands and respects the need for families to receive more information regarding the tragic DCA crash. We acknowledge that many individuals are still seeking answers about the incident and the measures being taken to prevent a similar tragedy,” a U.S. Army spokesperson said in a statement to CNN.

Last week, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chair Jennifer Homendy spoke against a pending military spending bill that would require military aircraft in most cases to use TCAS, or the traffic alert and collision avoidance system, around the dense airspace in D.C.

Homendy has said that the crafts should use a more accurate form of technology rather than TCAS, which was in use during January’s crash.

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In a previous statement to PEOPLE, the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committee said, in part, “We all care deeply about and are fully committed to ensuring aviation safety. In particular, we want to ensure military aircraft properly coordinate with civil aviation authorities in order to avoid another tragic accident.”

“We look forward to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) releasing the results of its investigation next month… We agree that there is more that needs to be done,” they added.