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The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said Friday that “taking a series of steps” to improve security nearby Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) After a deadly collision in the air of January 29 between a commercial plane and a black hawk helicopter of the Potomac River that killed 67 people.
The new guidelines occur after the National Transportation Security Board (NTSB) recommended the closure of a Helicopter route near DCA on Tuesday.
The president of the NTSB Board, Jennifer Homendy, said that the location of Route 4 of the helicopter and the final approach to track 33 of DCA was an “intolerable risk for aviation safety by increasing the possibilities of a air collision.”
The president of the National Transport Security Board, Jennifer Homendy, said there were a number of possible errors that led to the accident of January 29. (Pool)
After the directive, the FAA announced in a statement on Friday that it is “permanently restricting the operations of non -essential helicopters around DCA” and “eliminating the helicopter and mixed traffic of fixed wing.”
It will also permanently close Route 4 between Hains Point and the Wilson bridge and will evaluate the alternative helicopter routes as recommended by the NTSB.
“If a helicopter should fly through airspace in an urgent mission, such as medical life, priority police or priority life or presidential transport, FAA will maintain specific distances away from airplanes, “according to a FAA statement.
An US Army. UH-60m Black Hawk helicopter. (Patryk Ogorzalek/Wyborcza.PL Agency through Reuters, Archive)
FAA will also prohibit the simultaneous use of 15/33 and 4/22 slopes when helicopters that perform urgent missions work near DCA, according to the statement.
The mortal clash, which occurred during a “Flight Verification” of the Army He killed 67 people. There were no survivors.
A subsequent investigation of NTSB revealed that helicopter crew members may not have known that they were flying too high and that they may not have heard critical messages of air traffic control before the fatal shipwreck.
Remains at the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on January 30. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
In addition, the military use of “visual separation” was criticized, and some claim that they could have contributed to the disaster.
FAA announced Friday that it will limit the use of visual separation to certain Coast GuardHelicopter operations of the Marines and Park police outside the restricted airspace.
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Homendy said helicopters and airplanes could be so close to 75 feet away during landing, according to previous reports.
The authorities said they identified 15,214 cases of airplanes that receive alerts on helicopters near October 2021 and December 2024.
NTSB researchers examine the so -called black box recovered from the American Airlines plane that crashed on January 29 with a Black Hawk helicopter from the US Army. Uu. Near Washington, DC (NTSB)
The army has said that the Black Hawk crew had a lot of experience and accustomed to the crowded skies around the capital of the nation.
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The Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, said Tuesday that the temporary prohibition of helicopters near the airport would continue.
“How did FAA know?” Duffy asked about the flow of helicopters near the airport.
Louis Casiano de Fox News Digital contributed to this report.
