"FAA permanently shuts helicopter route where Black Hawk struck airliner"

We're getting to this a bit late but then the FAA left their action a bit late as well, maybe twenty years late.

From the Washington Post, Masrch 14:

The agency faced criticism this week for not identifying the risks helicopters posed before the deadly Jan. 29 midair collision. 

Aviation authorities on Friday permanently closed part of a helicopter route east and southeast of Reagan National Airport where an Army Black Hawk collided with an airliner in January, killing 67 people, acting on urgent recommendations issued by crash investigators this week.

The Federal Aviation Administration said it also would keep in place tight limits on helicopter flights in airspace immediately surrounding the airport while continuing to permit flights in designated corridors along the Potomac River to the northeast. At the same time, the agency said it would ease an additional measure that had been causing severe disruptions when President Donald Trump departed the White House on Marine One.

“The FAA will continue to closely support the NTSB-led investigation and take action as necessary to ensure public safety,” the agency said in a statement.

The National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday issued recommendations to improve safety on the helicopter routes, releasing preliminary findings of its investigation into the Jan. 29 crash and a review of a history of close calls between jets and helicopters in the airspace near National Airport. The findings were drawn in large part from information that the NTSB’s chair said the FAA could have accessed before the crash, prompting renewed criticism of the agency.

The FAA said Friday that it was also reviewing safety in eight other major cities that have helicopter routes, as well as carrying out an analysis of the Gulf Coast, where helicopters serve oil drilling operations. The agency said it would use AI tools to help it identify potential trouble spots.

At the time of the January crash, the Black Hawk was using a helicopter route that follows the east bank of the Potomac River and passes within 15 feet of a landing route used by airliners heading to one of the runways at National, according to a review by The Washington Post. There is little clearance between the two paths, investigators confirmed, and the helicopter involved in the crash was flying above an altitude limit of 200 feet....

....MUCH MORE