The Federal Aviation Administration is tightening restrictions on how close helicopters can fly around Reagan National Airport in Arlington County, Virginia.
The new rules come nearly five months after a deadly crash between an incoming American Airlines flight and an Army Black Hawk helicopter in January.
There are two zones, one to the east and one to the south, where helicopters are allowed to fly, according to the FAA. Previously, those zones allowed for traffic starting in old town Alexandria, and just across the Potomac from Reagan National in the District and Maryland.
The federal agency has reduced each zone by several miles, pushing that chopper traffic farther away from the commercial flights at Reagan National.
The FAA has also created an approach pattern south of the airport that will give more vertical separation between incoming planes and helicopters.
Since the January collision that killed 67 people, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy has voiced support for an independent audit to look into airspace safety by the Transportation Department’s inspector general.
In a statement last week, Duffy said “the more scrutiny and oversight the better.”
“How were these near misses not addressed? We have a solemn responsibility to the victims, their families, and the flying public to fully understand what went wrong—and to ensure it never happens again,” he wrote. “The inspector general will have our full support.”
The updated restrictions were implemented last week, on June 12.