The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Friday said it is “taking a series of steps” to improve safety near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) after a deadly Jan. 29 midair collision between a commercial plane and an Army Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River that killed 67 people.

The new guidelines come after the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommended the closure of a helicopter route near DCA Tuesday.

NTSB Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said the location of helicopter Route 4 and the final approach path to DCA runway 33 was an “intolerable risk to aviation safety by increasing the chance of a midair collision.”

National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said there were a number of potential errors that led to the Jan. 29 crash. (Pool)

Homendy said helicopters and planes could be as close as 75 feet apart during landing, according to previous reporting. 

Officials said they identified 15,214 instances of planes getting alerts about helicopters in close proximity between October 2021 and December 2024.

NTSB investigators examine the so-called black box recovered from the American Airlines plane that crashed Jan. 29 with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter near Washington, D.C.  (NTSB)

The Army has said the Black Hawk crew was highly experienced and accustomed to the crowded skies around the nation’s capital.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Tuesday said the temporary ban on helicopters near the airport would continue. 

“How did the FAA not know?” Duffy asked about the flow of helicopters near the airport. 

Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano contributed to this report.