U.S. government admits role in plane crash that killed skaters - ESPN

The U.S. government admitted Wednesday that the actions of an air traffic controller and Army helicopter pilot played a role in causing the Jan. 29 collision between an airliner and a Black Hawk near Washington, D.C., that killed 67 people, including a group of elite young figure skaters.

It was the deadliest plane crash on American soil in more than two decades. The figure skaters, their parents and coaches who had just attended the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas, were among those on the plane.

The official response, made in court documents responding to the first lawsuit filed by one of the victims' families, said the government is liable in the crash partly because the air traffic controller violated visual separation procedures that night. Plus, the filing said, the Army helicopter pilots' «failure to maintain vigilance so as to see and avoid» the airline jet makes the government liable.

But the filing suggested that others, including the pilots of the jet and the airlines, may also have played a role. The lawsuit also blamed American Airlines and its regional partner, PSA Airlines, for roles in the crash, but those airlines have filed motions to dismiss.

The government denied that any air traffic controllers or officials at the Federal Aviation Administration or Army were negligent.

Among the figure skating community killed in the crash were six members or associates of the Skating Club of Boston, including teenage skaters Jinna Han and Spencer Lane, their mothers, and their coaches Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, who won the pairs title at the 1994 world championships and competed twice in the Olympics.

A tribute and remembrance ceremony was held in the skaters' honor when Boston hosted