FAA Issues Permanent Restrictions On Helicopter Flights Near Reagan Airport
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced on Friday that it is enforcing permanent restrictions on non-essential helicopter operations around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) in Washington, D.C. This announcement came after a deadly midair collision between an Army Black Hawk helicopter and American Airlines Flight 5342 in January.
FAA expands safety measures
The FAA's new safety measures include the closure of Route 4, which runs between Hains Point and the Wilson Bridge. According to the statement, these new restrictions include a permanent ban on most non-essential helicopter flights near the airport. However, essential missions will be exempt, such as emergency medical flights, law enforcement operations, and Presidential transport. The FAA will also prohibit the simultaneous use of runways 15/33 and 4/22 when helicopters are conducting urgent missions.
Furthermore, the FAA stated that it is researching airports in locations where a large number of aircraft types share space, including eight metro regions with frequent helicopter routes: Boston, New York, Baltimore-Washington, Detroit, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, and Los Angeles. The agency is also assessing the Gulf Coast, including offshore helicopter operations.
In the statement, the FAA also said it's "limiting the use of visual separation to certain Coast Guard, Marine and Park Police helicopter operations outside the restricted airspace."
Trump's action ordered the FAA to review the performance of individuals in critical safety positions.
NTSB called for immediate changes
This decision comes after a series of National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommendations aimed at reducing the risk of midair collisions in the region. The NTSB preliminary report cited the risk of helicopters flying as low as 200 feet near passenger planes on landing approach, with vertical separation potentially as narrow as 75 feet. The NTSB found that there had been 85 recorded near-miss incidents between helicopters and airplanes since 2011, a pattern that they said pointed to an urgent need for action.
The NTSB Board Chair, Jennifer Homendy, said in a press conference that the current helicopter routes around Reagan Airport "pose an intolerable risk to aviation safety, describing it as "an intolerable risk," according to ABC News.
DOT to use AI to improve air traffic control
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement following NTSB's news conference earlier this week, emphasizing the FAA's commitment to addressing safety risks around DCA and other airports with high volumes of mixed traffic.
"We are continuing to restrict the DCA airspace to follow the recommendations of the NTSB's preliminary report about January’s tragic collision, but it’s not enough," he said. "We need to deliver a new, state-of-the-art air traffic control system that is the envy of the world. We owe it to the American people, but we also owe it to the 67 victims of the DCA collision to make sure this never happens again."
Duffy also announced plans to use AI to detect "hot spots," where close interactions between planes occur regularly, and to upgrade airport air traffic control systems with the newest technology over the next four years, according to FOX News.
'Serious, systemic failure'
According to a statement released by the families of those killed in the fatal collision on Tuesday, the NTSB's preliminary report emphasizes how "serious, systemic failures in air travel safety cost our loved ones their lives and continues to threaten public safety."
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"This was not an isolated incident, but a symptom of broader failures in our aviation safety system," the statement said, reported by ABC News. "If the necessary reforms had been implemented sooner, Flight 5342 likely would have landed safely and our family members would be home with us."
The incident occurred on the evening of January 29, just as the PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 regional plane, carrying 64 passengers, was set to touch down at Reagan Airport. The three troops aboard the helicopter were on an annual training trip and checking their night vision goggles when the incident occurred. It was the worst aviation accident to strike the United States since 2001.