The Federal Aviation Administration will close the Route 4 helicopter corridor near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in response to an airborne collision on January 29 involving passenger jets.
The agency will “permanently close Route 4 between Haynes Point and Wilson Bridge and evaluate the alternative helicopter route recommended by the NTSB,” the agency said on March 14.
The move comes days after the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommended that the FAA stretch route 4 to helicopter traffic while commercial aircraft are operating from runway 15/33 at a nearby national airport.
Route 4 runs parallel to the eastern side of the Potomac River. The National Airport is located on the west bank of the river. Haynes Point is approximately 0.7 miles (1.1 km) southwest of the Runway 33 threshold, and the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge is approximately 3.9 miles south.
Additionally, the FAA states that it is to “permanently limit non-essential helicopter operations around DCA and eliminate mixed helicopter and fixed wing traffic.”
The FAA says helicopter traffic in the airspace called Route 4 is limited, but only if it involves “an emergency mission such as life-saving medical care, priority law enforcement, and presidential transport.” In such cases, the air traffic controller will prohibit fixed wing aircraft from using the secondary runways at certain airports (15/33 and 4/22). Runway 1/19 is the airport's main strip.
As part of its review, the FAA is also analyzing other airports with “a massive amount” of helicopter and fixed-wing traffic. Airports under review include those serving the Baltimore Washington area and Boston, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles and New York.
Additionally, the agency is conducting an “assessment of the US Gulf Coast, including its offshore helicopter business.”
The NTSB recommendations came as part of a March 11 preliminary report on the January 29 crash.
According to the report, investigators discovered 85 instances of helicopters within 1 nm (1.9 km) of the vertical direction of a commercial jet near a national airport between October 2021 and December 2024.
Helicopters are prohibited from exceeding 200 feet on Route 4. But at 200 feet, helicopters could appear within 75 feet of the jets landing on runway 33.
The January 31 incident included a US Army Sikorsky UH-60 Blackhawk flying 300 feet on Route 4. Investigators have not yet stated why helicopter pilots are exceeding the altitude cap.
Blackhawk collided with PSA Airlines' MHIRJ CRJ700 with its approach to runway 33, killing all 64 CRJ members and all three Blackhawk members.
