The Federal Aviation Administration said it would place permanent restrictions on helicopter traffic around Ronald Reagan National Airport beginning Friday, solidifying limitations that the agency implemented after a midair collision killed 67 people there nearly a year ago.
The F.A.A. imposed a series of orders to limit helicopter traffic in the skies around the airport serving Washington, stepping up its restrictions after the National Transportation Safety Board urged that certain routes be closed when key runways were in use. The new rule states that helicopters and certain other aircraft will be barred from operating in that area at all times, with limited exceptions for “essential” operations.
The F.A.A., referring to the airport by its three-letter code, said in its announcement that it was rolling out the new rule without waiting for a traditional public comment period because of an urgent need “to mitigate the unacceptable risk of midair collisions near DCA resulting from insufficient separation immediately.”
Any delay, the F.A.A.’s rule added, “could result in a similar accident or incident as occurred on Jan. 29, 2025.”
The move comes just days before the one-year anniversary of the collision between an Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines passenger jet near the airport. The accident touched off a wide-ranging federal investigation and a flurry of legislative proposals, as investigators and lawmakers sought to address the apparent causes.
The N.T.S.B. is expected to announce its findings and recommendations on Tuesday, including the probable cause of the accident. But several factors — overtaxed air traffic controllers, faulty equipment and dangerous helicopter routes among them — have already been highlighted as likely factors in the crash.
The newly expanded rule also comes as Congress debates how to address a statutory change adopted as part of a defense authorization bill that lawmakers passed last month. The change could make it easier for the military to bypass airspace restrictions if the Pentagon determined that there was a national security reason to do so, aviation safety officials said.
Jennifer L. Homendy, the N.T.S.B. chairwoman, criticized the changes in the defense bill as “a step backward” and “a safety whitewash.” The White House and the Pentagon urged lawmakers last month to reverse the changes and replace them with other, bipartisan legislation to stiffen airspace restrictions and expand the use of advanced tracking technology. The effort cleared the Senate but was never taken up in the House, and lawmakers are still arguing about the best way forward.
The new rule sets strict limits on what “essential operations” could be excepted from the airspace restrictions. The F.A.A.’s rule limits them to lifesaving medical flights, active law enforcement operations, active national security situations, continuity operations for the federal government, and transport of the president or vice president.
“Routine training, proficiency evaluation flights and other flights for transportation of personnel that are not involved in an essential operation, as previously described, are not essential operations,” the new rule states. “In short, essential helicopter operations in this area should be exceedingly rare.”
Karoun Demirjian is a breaking news reporter for The Times.
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