NTSB Calls For Urgent Safety Restrictions on Helicopters Around Reagan Airport

Following an investigation into the midair collision involving a passenger plane and a helicopter just outside the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) in January, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is recommending that helicopters should be forbidden from part of the Potomac River while planes land at the airport.

At a press conference on 11 March, NTSB chairwoman Jennifer Homendy disclosed elements of a preliminary report, which issued “urgent safety recommendations” to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) about DCA airspace.

“Homendy described the flight patterns around DCA as ‘an intolerable risk’ as helicopters and commercial planes operate in close proximity to each other in the busy airspace over the U.S. capital,” NPR reported, covering the press conference. “She says an NTSB analysis found that in a 13-year period from 2011 to 2024, there was at least one ‘close call’ each month between a commercial plane operating at DCA and a helicopter.”

The 29 January midair collision involved an American Airlines regional jet, Flight 5342, and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter. The two aircraft collided while the plane was trying to land at DCA, and the plane and helicopter subsequently fell into the Potomac River below. All 67 people on the two aircraft died as a result of the incident.

Key Findings and Recommendations from the NTSB

Safety reporting programs and FAA data indicate that between 2011 and 2024, several near-midair collisions involving helicopters and commercial aircraft near DCA have tended to happen as aircraft are landing. In more than half of these instances, the helicopter may have been flying higher than current regulations would allow.

In addition, two-thirds of the events occurred at night, according to new NTSB analysis.

Of the 944,179 flights that occurred around DCA between October 2021 and December 2024, there were 85 recorded instances where an airplane and a helicopter experienced a close call—defined as a lateral separation of less than 1,500 feet and vertical separation of less than 200 feet.

Existing distances between helicopter and airplane traffic for planes landing on runway 33 at DCA “are insufficient and pose an intolerable risk to aviation safety by increasing the chances of a midair collision,” the NTSB’s 7 March report said.

The NTSB recommended that the FAA ban helicopters from using a route between Hains Point and the Wilson Bridge along the Potomac River whenever runways 15 and 33 are being used. The board also recommended that the FAA assign an alternative route that helicopters can use when the existing route is closed to them.

While the board can make safety recommendations, only the FAA can implement and enforce them in instances involving aircraft.

Since the 29 January crash, the FAA has imposed temporary restrictions that prohibited helicopters from the airspace around DCA.