FAA Orders Permanent Restrictions on Helicopter Route Near Washington Airport

The FAA will implement urgent recommendations from investigators examining the deadly Jan. 29 crash.

An American Airlines Airbus A319 takes off past the air traffic control tower at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Va., on Jan. 11, 2023. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will permanently restrict helicopter traffic near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) following recommendations from an independent investigative board that called the current situation an “intolerable risk to aviation safety.”

Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, who oversees the FAA, announced on March 11 that the agency would implement safety measures laid out by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in its preliminary investigation report into the Jan. 29 mid-air collision between a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines passenger jet.

The crash killed 67 people and left no survivors. The tragedy prompted the FAA to restrict helicopter travel along two routes near the Potomac River and the airport until March 31.

In its preliminary investigation report released on March 11, the NTSB urged the FAA to keep the restrictions in place along one of the two corridors—known as Route 4—while flights are landing or departing on DCA’s runways 15 and 33. The American Airlines flight was preparing to land on runway 33 when it collided with the Army helicopter traveling on Route 4 on the night of Jan. 29.

The board further recommended that the FAA designates an alternative helicopter route when those runways are in use.

“We’ve determined that the existing separation distances between helicopter traffic operating on Route 4 and aircraft landing on Runway 33 are insufficient and pose an intolerable risk to aviation safety,” Jennifer Homendy, chair of the NTSB, said at a news conference announcing the preliminary report.

“We remain concerned about the significant potential for a future mid-air collision at DCA, which is why we are recommending a permanent solution today,” she said. “We believe a critical safety issue must be addressed without delay.”

Duffy has confirmed the FAA will fully adopt the NTSB’s recommendations.

Speaking at a separate press conference, Duffy said that earlier in the day he had discussed with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth establishing an alternate route for military operations around the restricted airspace at DCA. He noted that there will be exceptions for life-saving medical flights, active law enforcement, air defense, and presidential travel.

“At best, we’re in a situation where we’re threading a needle allowing helicopters to fly down the same airspace as landing aircraft,” he said.

“Why this information wasn’t studied and known before January 29 is an important question,” he continued. “But based on that information and this crash, we are going to continue with our restrictions on Route 4 here.”

The NTSB’s recommendations were based in part on a review of flight data, which revealed thousands of instances in recent years where airplanes and helicopters came dangerously close to one another near DCA.

The report noted that from 2011 to 2024, at least once a month, airplane pilots received urgent alerts—known as resolution advisories—warning them to take emergency action to avoid colliding with helicopters. In more than half of those near-misses, the helicopters may have been flying above permitted altitudes for the route, and two-thirds of the incidents occurred at night.

Homendy also pointed out on March 11 that the FAA had access to the same voluntary safety reporting data that the NTSB used for its analysis.

“They could have used that information any time to determine that we have a trend here and a problem here and looked at that route. That didn’t occur,” she said.

Correction: An earlier version of this article misspelled Duffy’s name. The Epoch Times regrets the error.