NTSB Makes Urgent Recommendations on Helicopter Traffic Near Reagan National Airport

The National Transportation Safety Board urgently recommended Tuesday that the Federal Aviation Administration permanently prohibit helicopter operations near Washington’s Ronald Reagan National Airport, or DCA, when certain runways are in use for arrivals or departures, calling it “an intolerable risk to aviation safety by increasing the chance of a midair collision.”

The NTSB asked the FAA to prohibit helicopter operations near DCA when runways 15 and 33 are in use, and to designate an alternative helicopter route. 

The accident occurred on the evening of Jan. 29, when a U.S. Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter transiting an FAA-designated helicopter corridor collided with a PSA Airlines regional jet on final approach to DCA’s Runway 33. The collision killed 67 passengers and crew on both aircraft.

In its 10-page urgent recommendation report, the NTSB said that helicopters transiting 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 the lack of separation was insufficient and said 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.

The urgent safety recommendation report and the preliminary report are both available on the DCA midair collision investigation webpage.