A Year after KDCA Midair, FBO GM Recalls Bizav Role in Response

A year after the skies over our nation’s capital bore witness to one of the most tragic aviation accidents in recent history, Adam Cope, the general manager of the Signature Aviation FBO at KDCA, looked back at the little-known but critical role business aviation played in the response.

On Jan. 29, 2025, an American Airlines CRJ700 regional jetliner on final approach to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (KDCA) collided with a U.S. Army UH-60L Black Hawk helicopter that transited across the approach path at an altitude of about 300 feet. All 67 lives aboard the two aircraft were lost in the disaster.

Cope recalled that night. “I happened to be here handling a high-profile customer out on Taxiway Bravo, which is a remote location kind of closer to [Runway] 33 than our ramp,” he told AIN. “Initially, it was thought that a helicopter had made an emergency landing on 33, so we started getting ready to recover a helicopter.”

The collision occurred at 8:47 p.m., and as the minutes ticked past, the information continued to change. “A few minutes later, we were told [there was] a helicopter in the water, and then another minute or two went by before it trickled in that there was a midair collision and that there was a helicopter and an aircraft in the water. It became quickly apparent that there was going to be a mass response. When that happens, the airport gets shut down, and there’s no entry onto the airport other than the emergency response vehicles.”

Cope immediately focused on getting customer aircraft secured and their passengers and crews settled off the airport. The FBO staff used its shuttle vans to take them to a nearby hotel, where they could arrange their own transportation to their destinations. For the Signature facility, it would be more than a month before operations would return to normal.

Like every airport, KDCA has an emergency disaster plan in effect, and practices it in drills every three years. As part of that plan, the 33,000-sq-ft hangar at Signature’s facility was primarily assigned as a triage center, where accident victims would be taken and their conditions assessed for treatment and evacuation.

“Right away, we started getting the hangar prepared, getting everything emptied out,” Cope said. “Of course, its role changed around 11 that night. It was apparent that there weren’t survivors, and so the triage part wasn’t going to be necessary, so the hangar then became a collection point for the aircraft and belongings recovery.”

By midnight, the first loads of debris—which had washed up on the riverbanks of the Potomac and had been collected by airport personnel, the FBI, and first responders—had made their way to the hangar that, by then, was secured and access-restricted.

“The NTSB needed a place to set up, and neighboring us is Hangar Six, which is a governmental hangar as well as an FAA asset,” Cope explained. “We arranged for fencing to go up between their ramp door and our hangar entry so that people could go back and forth.” Once the fence went up, an airport police officer was stationed there 24 hours a day.

To accommodate the eventual arrival of trucks carrying pieces of wreckage and the cranes to move them, much of the FBO’s ramp space in front of the hangar was fenced off as well. Also, most of the FBO’s ground service equipment had to be relocated, and places had to be found to charge its electric equipment.

The airport reopened around 11 a.m. the following morning. “By noon, we were back in business handling our customers,” said Cope. As a result of the ramp activity, arriving and departing aircraft had to park well away from the terminal, requiring their passengers and crews to be shuttled to and from the facility.

As the larger portions of wreckage from the two aircraft were recovered from the river by the salvage contractor, they were trucked to the FBO. “I think it was about a week and a half later before the really large sections came out,” said Cope, adding that efforts were made to deter preemptive scrutiny by the press, as well as morbid curiosity from the public. In addition to the blackout fencing that blocked a view into the hangar when the doors were open, the FBO would also position its equipment to serve as a shield. “We would use our fuel trucks to strategically block when trucks were coming in and out, and cranes were moving wreckage to try and make it more difficult to view things.”

Cope—a veteran Signature employee for three decades—took measures to protect his staff in the aftermath of the tragedy. “It was impactful for everybody; there are huge flatbed trucks rolling in and personal effects being offloaded,” he stated, adding that he tried to shield his employees from having to witness anything disturbing. “There was a large contingent of young ice skaters on board [the commercial flight], so there were all of the little ice skates, and all of that stuff you saw that made it personal.” While some of the FBO’s equipment required storage back in the hangar every night, Cope delegated only himself and his operations manager, Connor Thoreck, to perform that task.

The situation was so fraught that, at times, emotional support dogs were brought in. “You saw the FBI folks and NTSB folks and everybody just kind of take a break and come over and roll around on the ground with the emotional support dogs,” said Cope. “We had daily visits, sometimes twice a day.”

As the wreckage was recovered, the sections were then laid out on the hangar floor in an approximation of the intact aircraft, dripping with fuel, hydraulic fluid, and, of course, river water. While the protocol was for any human remains found at the accident scene to be taken directly to a temporary morgue set up at the North Capitol Street Heliport, a code word was established for if and when investigators encountered any during the hangar investigation. “The head investigator would notify me, and then we would make sure that everybody was out of the hangar,” said Cope. FBI recovery specialists onsite would then solemnly collect the remains and transport them to the morgue.

“It only took them about two weeks. They were done with the investigation by mid-February, and then we had to start planning on getting it all back out,” Cope noted, adding, “The NTSB folks are amazingly professional; it’s quite impressive what they do. The recovery team, after they removed everything, did a thorough hangar cleanup.” By early March, Signature finally had its hangar back, and its tenants moved back in.

For Cope and his staff, the memories are still strong a year on. “Everyone was affected by it somewhat,” he said. “You’re living in it every single day, and you’re seeing it all firsthand. Even though you know no one was in the hangar, they’re still attached to it.”

In November, Cope and Thoreck were honored by the National Air Transportation Association for their assistance in the aftermath. At the organization’s annual Aviation Business Conference in Dallas, they were both presented with the NATA Industry Excellence Award, recognizing “individuals whose professionalism and resilience exemplify the highest standards of general aviation.”