NTSB urges ban on some helicopter flights at DC airport

National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy, accompanied by investigator in charge Brice Banning, left, speaks Tuesday about the January midair collision of an American Airlines flight and a Black Hawk helicopter in Washington, D.C. Ben Curtis — ap

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By Josh Funk, John Seewer and Nathan Ellgren

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Federal investigators looking into the cause of the January collision between a passenger jet and an Army helicopter near Washington, D.C., that killed 67 people recommended a ban on some helicopter flights Tuesday, saying the current setup “poses an intolerable risk.”

National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy laid out frightening statistics about near misses to underscore the danger that has existed for years near Ronald Reagan National Airport and expressed anger that it took a midair collision for it to come to light.

In just over three years, she said, there were 85 close calls when a few feet in the wrong direction could have resulted in the same kind of accident that happened on Jan. 29 when the military helicopter collided with an American Airlines jet over the Potomac River as the plane was approaching the airport.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said he’ll adopt the NTSB’s recommendations for the route where the midair collision occurred. He noted there will be some modifications in the guidelines to be released today, including allowing presidential flights and lifesaving missions.

Helicopters no longer will be “threading the needle” flying under landing planes, he said.

The Federal Aviation Administration also will use artificial intelligence to analyze data from every airport to make sure there aren’t similar dangers elsewhere, he said, adding there are other airports with cross-traffic.

Homendy and Duffy both said the hazards at Reagan airport should have been recognized earlier by the FAA.

The NTSB determined that the existing separation distance between planes and helicopters at Reagan airport is “insufficient and poses an intolerable risk to aviation safety,” Homendy said.

She said she was devastated for families that are grieving because they lost loved ones. Among the victims were 28 members of the figure skating community. “It shouldn’t take tragedy to require immediate action,” she said.

Members of several families who lost loved ones said in a statement that the NTSB’s preliminary report showed this was not an isolated incident.

“It also reinforces what we, as the families of the victims, already suspected: serious, systemic failures in air travel safety cost our loved ones their lives and continues to threaten public safety,” the statement said.

Aviation lawyer Robert Clifford, who represents at least six families, said the airline had a responsibility to address known problems.

“Those charged in transportation with the highest duty of care can’t run yellow lights, and they’ve been running flashing red lights for years, it sounds like, and it’s just pathetic,” he said.

Under the current practice helicopters and planes can be as close as 75 feet apart from each other during landing, Homendy said. Investigators have identified 15,000 instances of planes getting alerts about helicopters being in close proximity between October 2021 and December 2024, she said.

Investigators determined that planes got alerts to take evasive action because they were too close to a helicopter at least once a month between October 2011 and December 2024, Homendy said.