Temporary restrictions imposed last year on helicopters and powered-lift aircraft operating around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport will become permanent outside of “essential operations,” the Department of Transportation announced on Jan. 22.
The rules were formalized after an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided with American Airlines Flight 5342 over the Potomac River on Jan. 29, 2025, killing all 67 people onboard both aircraft. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) implemented the restrictions to increase safety and prevent helicopters from sharing the congested airspace around the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.
The rules require all military aircraft to broadcast their locations during flight and prevent air traffic controllers from relying on visual separation, a practice where controllers allow pilots to maintain separation from other aircraft with visual sight instead of radar markers.
The new guidelines also moved helicopter routes farther away from Reagan National and created “procedures to eliminate helicopter and fixed-wing mixed traffic near the airport,” according to the Transportation Department.
The finalized rules go into effect on Jan. 23, the agency said Thursday.
“After that horrific night in January, this administration made a promise to do whatever it takes to secure the skies over our nation’s capital and ensure such a tragedy would never happen again. Today’s announcement reaffirms that commitment,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) held a three-day fact-finding hearing last summer into the incident, which was the deadliest plane crash on U.S. soil since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The hearing revealed critical details about the accident, including issues with the helicopter’s altitude readings, long-term staffing shortages at Reagan National’s air traffic control tower, and increases to American Airlines’ flight capacity out of that airport.
The NTSB is hosting a meeting on Jan. 27 to determine the probable cause of the accident, nearly one year later. The agency, which is tasked with investigating transportation accidents for the federal government, issues one-year probable cause reports on the incidents it probes after issuing a series of preliminary reports in the interim.
These reports often include recommendations for additional regulatory actions by the federal government. The NTSB had previously recommended that the FAA prohibit helicopter operations around Reagan National when the airport’s runways 15 and 33 are in use.
“The safety of the American people will always be our top priority. I look forward to continuing to collaborate with the NTSB on any additional actions,” Duffy said in his statement on Thursday.
FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said in a statement that Duffy’s announcement is a “key step toward ensuring these improvements remain permanent and we’re continuing to work with the NTSB to ensure an accident like this never happens again.”
