WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal investigators looking into the cause of the January collision between a passenger plane and a U.S. Army helicopter near Washington, D.C., which resulted in the death of 67 people, recommended on Tuesday to ban some helicopter flights, stating that the current configuration “poses an unacceptable risk.”
The chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board of the United States (NTSB), Jennifer Homendy, presented alarming statistics to underline the danger that has existed for years near Ronald Reagan National Airport and expressed her anger that it took a mid-air collision for it to become evident.
In just over three years, he said, there were 85 near incidents where a few feet in the wrong direction could have resulted in the same type of accident that occurred on January 29, when the military helicopter collided with an American Airlines plane over the Potomac River as the plane was approaching the airport.
The Federal Safety Board determined that the existing separation distance between airplanes and helicopters at the airport is “insufficient and represents an unacceptable risk to aviation safety,” stated Homendy.
She said she was devastated for the families who are mourning the loss of their loved ones. Among the victims were 28 members of the figure skating community.
“A tragedy should not be necessary to require immediate action,” he said.
Under current practice, helicopters and airplanes can be as close as about 23 meters (75 feet) from each other during landing, said Homendy. Researchers have identified 15,214 instances in which airplanes received alerts about helicopters in close proximity between October 2021 and December 2024, she added.
The researchers determined that airplanes received alerts to take evasive actions because they were too close to a helicopter at least once a month between October 2011 and December 2024, Homendy indicated.
After the mid-air collision, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) took measures to restrict helicopter flights around Ronald Reagan National Airport to ensure that airplanes and helicopters no longer share the same airspace. Now, flights are temporarily suspended when helicopters need to pass through the airport.
The NTSB proposal would close a vital route for law enforcement, Coast Guard patrols, and government operations flights.
Homendy said that the NTSB recommends that the FAA find a “permanent solution” for alternative routes further away from the airport for helicopter traffic.
Researchers have stated that the helicopter may have had inaccurate altitude readings in the moments leading up to the accident, and that the crew may not have heard key instructions from air traffic controllers. The collision likely occurred at an altitude just below 91 meters (300 feet), as the plane descended towards the helicopter, which was well above its 61 meters (200 feet) limit for that location.
The helicopter pilots may also have missed part of another communication, when the tower said the jet was turning towards a different runway, Homendy said last month.
The helicopter was on a “verification” flight that night, where the pilot was conducting an annual test and a test on the use of night vision goggles, Homendy indicated. Investigators believe that the crew was using night vision goggles throughout the flight.
The Army has said that the crew of the Black Hawk was highly experienced and used to the congested skies around the country’s capital.
The NTSB, in its ongoing investigation, will examine the amount of traffic at Reagan and the personnel in the control tower to determine if any of these factors played a role in the collision. It will take more than a year to obtain the final NTSB report on the cause.
While Homendy presented those alarming statistics about near misses, she also said that flying remains incredibly safe, adding that she mostly flies out of Reagan.
Air safety expert John Cox said that he has flown in and out of Reagan as a pilot in all kinds of aircraft since the late 1970s and sometimes received collision alerts about nearby helicopters, but it was usually easy to see that the helicopter was going to pass behind the airplane.
“That’s something that happened when coming in and out of there, and it worked successfully for decades,” said Cox, who is the CEO of the aviation safety consulting firm Safety Operating Systems in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Cox said that multiple things had to go wrong for this collision to happen.
In just one month earlier this year, there were four major air disasters in North America, including the mid-air collision over the Potomac and, more recently, in mid-February, when a Delta flight flipped over and landed on its roof at Toronto’s Pearson Airport, injuring 21 people.
Those close accidents and incidents left some worried about the safety of flying, even though fatal accidents are rare and the track record of US airlines is notably solid.
President Donald Trump blamed the mid-air collision over Washington D.C. on what he called an “obsolete” air traffic control system and promised to replace it. He also criticized the helicopter for flying too high.
Federal officials have been expressing concerns about an overloaded and understaffed air traffic control system for years, especially after a series of close calls between aircraft at airports in the United States. Among the reasons cited for the shortage of personnel are non-competitive salaries, long shifts, intensive training, and mandatory retirements.