On Tuesday, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommended the closure of helicopter routes near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
NTSB Board Chair Jennifer Homendy called the “exhaustive risk to aviation safety by increasing the chances of air collisions” on the location of helicopter route 4 and the final approach path to DCA runway 33.
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NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy will provide Tuesday's update on investigating a fatal airborne DC aircraft collision that occurred on January 29, 2025 on the Potomac River. (Fox News/Pool)
Homedy said the helicopters and planes are now 75 feet apart while they landed. Between October 2021 and December 2024, 15,214 aircraft instances were identified as being alerted to helicopters in close proximity, investigators said.
On January 29th, American Airlines Flight 5342, carrying 60 passengers and four crew members, approached Reagan Airport from Wichita, Kansas, to practice the emergency evacuation route as an Army Black Hawk helicopter with three soldiers on board. The aircraft crashed onto the Potomac River, killing everyone on board.
In its recommendation, the NTSB said it used runways 15 and 33 at the airport to identify the risk of an airborne collision between helicopter and plane traffic.
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The wreckage will be seen on January 30, 2025 on the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. When one of the runways is in use, the National Transportation Safety Board recommends closure of helicopter routes near the airport. (US Coast Guard via Petty Officer 1st Class Brandon Giles/AP)
The agency recommended that helicopters be prohibited from operating on Route 4 between Haines Point and Wilson Bridge when runways 15 and 33 were in use, and recommended that alternative helicopter routes be specified when Route 4 was closed.
The Black Hawk may have had inaccurate altitude measurements at the moment before the crash, investigators said.
The collision could have occurred at an altitude of nearly 300 feet as the plane descended towards the helicopter.
FBI agents will carry the wreckage the day after American Flight 5342 collided with a Black Hawk helicopter and crashed into the Potomac River on the night of January 29, 2025. (Kevin Lamarck/Reuters)
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The Army said the Black Hawk crews are very experienced and used to the busy skies around the capitals around the nation.
