NTSB Shares 'Urgent Recommendations' After Potomac Crash

The National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday issued "urgent safety recommendations" as part of its preliminary report into the fatal collision of a military helicopter and an American Airlines plane near Reagan National Airport on Jan. 29. NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy credited Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy with quickly reining in helicopter traffic over the Potomac River at Reagan until March 31, but said "as that deadline nears, we remain concerned about the significant potential for a future midair collision at DCA." What you need to know:

• The recommendations: Keep helicopters out of a four-mile area over the Potomac River when two airport runways are in use and provide an alternate route for helicopter pilots. Specifically, per CNN, "Prohibit operations on helicopter Route 4 between Hains Point and the Wilson Bridge when runways 15 and 33 are being used for departures and arrivals, respectively, at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport."

• Concerning stats: The NTSB said a review of 944,179 operations between October 2021 and December 2024 revealed 15,214 occurrences of "near-miss events" where aircraft were within one nautical mile of colliding and vertical separation of less than 400 feet. That's a 1.6% "near-miss event" rate. In 85 cases, two aircraft were laterally separated by less than 1,500 feet and had a vertical separation of less than 200 feet. As the AP puts it, in those 85 cases, "a few feet in the wrong direction could have resulted in the same kind of accident."
• More numbers: ABC News reports helicopters on the Route 4 helicopter corridor have a maximum authorized altitude of 200 feet, meaning they "could have only about 75 feet of vertical separation from an airplane on landing approach to Runway 33," per the NTSB. "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." Homendy called 75 feet an "intolerable risk to aviation safety."
• Standout quote: The NTSB found the current separation distance between planes and helicopters at the airport is "insufficient and poses an intolerable risk to aviation safety," Homendy said. "We remain concerned about the significant potential for a future mid-air collision at DCA, which is why we are recommending a permanent solution today."
• Standout quote II: But Homendy cautioned against fear, saying, "I just flew with my daughter out of DCA. Aviation is incredibly safe. DCA is where I always fly out of. I say often that your biggest risk is in your personal vehicle when you're going to and from the aircraft at the airport. Aviation is safe. ... However, there are safety issues and areas where we need to improve to make sure that we are at zero."
• The report: The Washington Post notes the NTSB's 20-page preliminary report details the circumstances of the crash and initial stages of the investigation but does not identify a cause—that kind of conclusion will take at least a year.

(More Potomac plane crash stories.)