The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced on March 18 that air traffic controllers at more than 150 airports are now required to use radar instead of visual checks to keep helicopters at a safe distance from landing and departing aircraft.
The change came more than a year after an apparent failure in maintaining visual separation resulted in the midair collision of an Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines regional jet attempting to land at Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington on Jan. 29, 2025. Both aircraft fell into the Potomac River, and 67 people died. There were no survivors.
