# Investigators call for ban on some helicopter operations near DC airport

## Ana Faguy & Ali Abbas Ahmadi
BBC News

### Watch: NTSB shut 'insufficient' helicopter and plane flightpaths in DC

US air crash investigators have recommended restricting helicopter flights in certain areas near Washington DC's Reagan National Airport following January's deadly mid-air collision.

Citing an "intolerable risk to aviation safety", the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) urged authorities to designate an alternative helicopter route when two runways -15 and 33 - are in use.

All 64 people aboard an American Airlines flight and three crew members on an army helicopter died after the mid-air collision on 29 January.

NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy stated that the separation between helicopters and jets in the area was insufficient, raising the "chances of a mid-air collision".



Data used by the NTSB for their preliminary report shows that the proximity between helicopters and aircrafts have triggered at least one alert per month between 2011 and 2024, said Ms Homendy.

This data could have been used by the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) - the US government agency in charge of civil aviation - to determine if there was a problem.

This is "stronger than an oversight", she said. "It shouldn't take tragedy to require immediate action."

Ms Homendy also spoke to concerns around air traffic controllers, saying staffing and communications between them is still being investigated.

President Donald Trump had earlier , claiming that the FAA had focused "on hiring people with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities".

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