On Tuesday, the National Transportation Safety Board urged prompt alterations at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, stating that the present helicopter paths surrounding the bustling airport “present an unacceptably high danger to flight safety.”
Chairman Jennifer Homendy stated that the NTSB is advising the Federal Aviation Administration to implement a permanent prohibition on helicopter flights near Reagan Airport whenever runways 15 and 33 are active, and suggests establishing an alternate flight path for pilots.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has “limited helicopter operations over the Potomac River near DCA until March 31,” stated Homendy during a press briefing. “I would like to applaud him for this decision and also recognize the prompt actions taken by the FAA.”
She stated: “As this deadline approaches, we continue to be worried about the considerable risk of possible midair collisions at DCA in the future.”
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Homendy detailed a series of near-misses at Reagan National Airport and mentioned that the NTSB is still investigating the severe collision involving an aircraft.
An American Airlines aircraft alongside a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter
that resulted in the deaths of all 67 individuals onboard both planes.
On the evening of January 29, a PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet, carrying 64 individuals after taking off from Wichita, Kansas, experienced a crash as it approached DCA’s Reagan Airport. At the moment of impact, the trio aboard the helicopter were engaged in routine yearly training exercises and testing their night vision goggles.
From October 2021 through December 2024, according to Homendy, there were 944,179 commercial activities at Reagan Airport. In that period, she mentioned that there were 15,214 instances where commercial aircraft came dangerously close to helicopters.
Collisions involving helicopters and commercial planes near Reagan Airport indicate that, from 2011 to 2024, most of the reported incidents happened during the approach for landing phase, as she mentioned.
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The NTSB stated that helicopters flying along “the Route 4 helicopter corridor at the highest permitted height of 200 feet might have just around 75 feet of vertical space from an aircraft coming in for a landing on Runway 33.” The agency also noted that this vertical clearance could drop below 75 feet based on how far the helicopter is laterally from the Potomac River shore or if the incoming plane descends lower than the specified visual glide path towards Runway 33.
Homendy stated that 75 feet poses an “unacceptable risk to aviation safety.”
“I do get angry about it. However, I also feel profoundly heartbroken for the families who are mourning,” she stated.
Homendy
said last month
There was no sign that the helicopter crew realized the danger approaching.
The soldiers might have been misled by inaccurate information about their altitude from their altimeters, since the pilots reported varying heights just moments prior to the accident, according to Homendy. She mentioned that one helicopter pilot believed they were at 400 feet, whereas the other estimated they were at 300 feet.
The instruction sent from the control tower for the helicopter to fly behind the airplane might not have reached the flight crew due to the possibility of the pilot having activated her radio simultaneously, thereby overriding the communication from air traffic control, according to the NTSB.
The Black Hawk crew was likely wearing night vision goggles throughout the flight, Homendy said.
