The FAA is taking a series of steps to improve safety around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) that follows the NTSB’s recommendations. These include:
- Permanently restricting non-essential helicopter operations around DCA and eliminating helicopter and fixed-wing mixed traffic.
- Permanently closing Route 4 between Hains Point and the Wilson Bridge and evaluating alternative helicopter routes as recommended by the NTSB.
- If a helicopter must fly through the airspace on an urgent mission, such as lifesaving medical, priority law enforcement, or Presidential transport, the FAA will keep them specific distances away from airplanes.
- Prohibiting the simultaneous use of Runways 15/33 and 4/22 when helicopters conducting urgent missions are operating near DCA.
- Limiting the use of visual separation to certain Coast Guard, Marine and Park Police helicopter operations outside the restricted airspace.
The FAA will continue to closely support the NTSB-led investigation and take action as necessary to ensure public safety.
Addressing Safety Risk at Other Airports
The FAA is continuing its analysis of airports that have high volumes of mixed traffic. That includes an assessment of the eight cities where we have charted helicopter routes. These cities are Boston, New York, the Baltimore-Washington area, Detroit, Chicago, Dallas, Houston and Los Angeles, some of which have multiple airports. The FAA is also assessing the U.S. Gulf Coast, including offshore helicopter operations. The FAA will have corrective action plans for any risks that are identified.
To make us more predictive, we are using machine learning and language modeling to scan incident reports and mine multiple data sources to find themes and areas of risk.
