Safety
In Wake of Crash, FAA Looking at Mixed Traffic at Multiple Airports
FAA is immediately looking at 10 'hot spots' and ultimately nationwide
Chris Rocheleau © NBAA
© NBAA

The FAA is reviewing helicopter routes at multiple airport locations where airplanes and rotorcraft mix, FAA acting Administrator Chris Rocheleau told lawmakers on Thursday. Testifying before the Senate aviation subcommittee on the midair collision of a U.S. Army Black Hawk and PSA Airlines CRJ-700 on January 29 near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (KDCA), Rocheleau said the agency is using machine learning to mine tens of millions of data points to identify risks of mixed traffic.

Earlier this month, the NTSB issued two urgent safety recommendations to permanently prohibit helicopter operations on Route 4 near KDCA when the airport’s runways were being used for departures and arrivals, as well as for the FAA to designate an alternative helicopter route.

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