The National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday called for immediate changes at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, saying the current helicopter routes around the busy airport “pose an intolerable risk to aviation safety” in the wake of January’s collision that killed 67 people.
Chairman Jennifer Homendy said the NTSB is recommending that the Federal Aviation Administration permanently ban helicopter operations near Reagan when runways 15 and 33 are in use and designate an alternative helicopter route for pilots.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy “took swift action to restrict helicopter traffic from operating over the Potomac River at DCA until March 31,” Homendy said at a news conference. “And I want to commend him for that and commend the work of the FAA to also take swift action.”
She added: “As that deadline nears, we remain concerned about the significant potential for a future midair collision at DCA.”
The Coast Guard investigates aircraft wreckage on the Potomac River, Jan. 30, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Petty Officer 1st Class Brandon Giles/ U.S. Coast Guard via Getty Images
Homendy outlined a history of close calls at Reagan and said the NTSB continues to the investigate the devastating crash between an American Airlines plane and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter that killed all passengers on board both aircraft.
The crash happened on the night of Jan. 29 when the PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet, which had departed from Wichita, Kansas, with 64 people on board, was about to land at Reagan (DCA). The three soldiers in the helicopter were conducting an annual training flight and night vision goggle check at the time of the collision.
Between October 2021 and December 2024, there were 944,179 commercial operations at Reagan, Homendy said. During that time, there were 15,214 close proximity events between commercial airplanes and helicopters with a lateral separation of less than 1 nautical mile and a vertical separation of less than 400 feet, she said. There were 85 events where the lateral separation was less than 1,500 feet and the vertical separation was less than 200 feet, she said.
Helicopters on “the Route 4 helicopter corridor at the maximum authorized altitude of 200 feet could have only about 75 feet of vertical separation from an airplane on landing approach to Runway 33,” the NTSB said in a statement. “Vertical separation could potentially be even less than 75 feet depending on the helicopter’s lateral distance from the Potomac River shoreline or if an approaching airplane was below the designated visual glidepath to Runway 33.”
Homendy said 75 feet is an “intolerable risk to aviation safety.”
“It does make me angry. But it also makes me feel incredibly devastated for families that are grieving because they lost loved ones,” Homendy said. “It shouldn’t take tragedy like this to occur. Unfortunately, one did, and so we are calling on action, but there clearly were indicators where safety trending could have occurred.”
American Airlines said in a statement, “We continue to mourn the lives lost in the tragic accident involving Flight 5342. We’re grateful for the National Transportation Safety Board’s urgent safety recommendations to restrict helicopter traffic near DCA and for its thorough investigation.”
Emergency response units assess airplane wreckage in the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington Airport, Jan. 30, 2025 in Arlington, Va.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Encounters between helicopters and commercial aircraft near Reagan show that, from 2011 through 2024, a vast majority of reported events occurred on approach to landing, she said.
At least one Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) resolution advisory — the most serious warning which tells the pilots to take immediate evasive action to avoid a collision — was triggered per month at Reagan due to proximity to a helicopter from 2011 to 2024, Homendy said.
Homendy said that in over half of the encounters the NTSB reviewed, the helicopter may have been flying above the altitude restriction. Two-thirds of the encounters occurred at night.
The NTSB’s investigation is ongoing. Homenday said the NTSB will conduct a number of simulations, conduct additional interviews and continue to examine radio altimeters, barometric altimeters and additional electronics.
A crane lifts a piece of American Airlines flight 5342 from the Potomac River during recovery efforts on Feb. 3, 2025 in Arlington, Va.
Homendy said last month there was no indication the helicopter crew was aware of the impending situation.
The soldiers may have had “bad data” on the altitude from their altimeter, as the pilots had differing altitudes in the seconds before the crash, Homendy said. One helicopter pilot thought they were at 400 feet and the other thought they were at 300 feet, she noted.
The transmission from the tower that instructed the helicopter to go behind the plane may not have been heard by the crew because the pilot may have keyed her radio at the same second and stepped on the transmission from ATC, the NTSB added.
The Black Hawk crew was likely wearing night vision goggles throughout the flight, Homendy said.
