WASHINGTON — It has been six weeks since 67 people died in a collision between an American Airlines flight and a U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopter in Washington, D.C.
The National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday gave an update on where the investigation stands.
The NTSB said that it is still in the “fact-finding phase” of the investigation, CNN reported.
“I often say that the easiest and quickest part of the investigation is determining what happened. The part that takes longer is the how and why,” NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said.
The preliminary report released on Tuesday did not give the “probable cause” of the crash. That could take more than a year to determine, CNN reported.
American Airlines flight 5342 was on approach to land when the Blackhawk hit the plane’s right side at an altitude of about 300 feet on Jan 29.
Previously it was said that the helicopter may have had wrong altitude readings or that the crew could not hear instructions from air traffic control, The Associated Press reported.
While the NTSB still hasn’t determined why it happened, the board would like to see the route used by the helicopter closed under some conditions.
“Urgent recommendations require immediate action to prevent similar accidents or incidents when we issue them,” Homendy said. “We believe a critical safety issue must be addressed without delay.”
The recommendation is to prohibit helicopters from using what is called Route 4 when planes are landing or taking off at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport using runways 33 and 15.
Flights are paused at Reagan Airport when helicopters must use that route, The Associated Press reported.
It has not been used since the crash as ordered by the Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, but that order expires on March 21, CBS News reported.
Homendy said the NTSB would like an alternate route designated that can be used to replace Route 4, but will not go as far as suggesting what the route should be.
The NTSB said there had been 15,214 near-miss events from October 2021 to December 2024 in that area. A near-miss is when there is only one nautical mile between aircraft and a lateral separation of less than 1,500 feet and a vertical separation of less than 200 feet, CNN reported.