A federal review of helicopter safety concerns launched after the between a passenger jet and an Army helicopter in Washington, D.C., has identified a rash of concerns about the potential for a collision between air tour helicopters and planes at the Las Vegas airport.
The said Tuesday that it imposed new restrictions on helicopter flights around Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas that have already cut the number of collision alerts planes were receiving by 30% over the last three weeks.
The FAA said in the wake of the collision between an American Airlines jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter in January that it planned to use artificial intelligence to dig into the millions of reports it collects to assess other places with busy helicopter traffic, including Boston, New York, Baltimore-Washington, Detroit, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and along the Gulf Coast.
The FAA鈥檚 acting administrator, Chris Rocheleau, said Las Vegas quickly became a concern once the agency dug into the data because agreements with helicopter operators there didn鈥檛 clearly define vertical and lateral separation requirements when helicopters were approaching the airport. And air traffic controllers in the tower weren鈥檛 issuing traffic advisories between returning helicopters and airplanes.
鈥淲e took quick action including exercising positive control over the helicopters and issuing more traffic advisories to pilots,鈥� Rocheleau said. 鈥淎s a result, the number of traffic alert and collision avoidance system reports decreased by 30 percent in just three weeks.鈥�
Luke Nimmo, a spokesperson for Clark County Department of Aviation, referred all questions about the findings to the FAA.
Rocheleau promised to take additional actions in Las Vegas and at any other airport where the FAA identifies concerns.
The near Washington's Ronald Reagan National Airport that killed 67 people was the deadliest aviation disaster in the United States since 2001. A in the months have raised worries about air travel, even though it remains safe overall.
Helicopters have understandably been a key concern ever since that crash, but Rocheleau said the core safety issues remain operations and maintenance problems. He said the top causes of helicopter accidents include loss of control and striking an object during low-altitude operations.
The FAA said its review of the safety data has expanded beyond helicopters to look at airports with a mix of many different planes and airports that are close together.
The proximity between Hollywood Burbank Airport and Van Nuys Airport in the Los Angeles area emerged as a concern because they are less than 10 miles (16 kilometers) apart. Both airports serve a wide mix of aircraft and have arrival and departure paths that are close to each other.
鈥淲hile flying remains the safest mode of transportation, we must always strive to do better,鈥� Rocheleau said. 鈥淲e have to identify trends and get smarter about how we use data. And when we put corrective actions in place, we must execute them.鈥�
Josh Funk And Hallie Golden, The Associated Press
