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ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The city will unveil a riverside memorial Monday evening to the 67 people killed in the January 2025 midair collision over the Potomac River, marking the completion of a project announced on the first anniversary of the crash.
The public unveiling is set for 5:30 to 7 p.m. Monday, June 1, at Rivergate City Park, 2 Montgomery St. The memorial, created by the City of Alexandria in partnership with Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., sits in the northeastern portion of the park along the Potomac. It includes a memorial bench, bricks, a descriptive sign and trees honoring the 67 victims. The event is free and open to the community.
Beyer, family members of the victims, first responders and regional partners are expected to attend, along with Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, which investigated the crash.
City officials said the memorial was designed in collaboration with the families and loved ones of those who died, to help shape how the space honors them. It is intended as a place for reflection, remembrance and community connection, offering families and the broader Alexandria community a place to gather and support one another.
The memorial honors those killed in the Jan. 29, 2025, collision between American Airlines Flight 5342 and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter, designated PAT 25, which went down in the Potomac near Reagan National Airport. The crash killed 60 passengers and four crew members aboard the regional jet, along with three soldiers in the helicopter. The site sits along the river where the wreckage came to rest off Alexandria's shoreline.
When the project was announced in January, Beyer said the 67 lives lost were "far more than a number," describing them as parents and children, partners and friends. Gaskins said the city would "always hold those we lost on Flight 5342 and PAT 25 — and their loved ones — in our hearts," and called the riverbank "a place for quiet reflection, remembrance, and healing."
