A Federal Aviation Administration report warned of dangerous conditions at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada, due to the prevalence of air tour helicopters.
The FAA said it reviewed dozens of airports in the wake of the collision between an American Airlines jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter outside Washington, D.C., in January. New restrictions have been imposed in Las Vegas, which the FAA says has already cut near-air collisions by 30%.
The FAA’s acting administrator Chris Rocheleau said Las Vegas became a concern as the agency conducted its review because agreements with local helicopter operators do not clearly define vertical and lateral separation requirements when helicopters approach the airport. Air traffic controllers also were not issuing traffic advisories between returning helicopters and airplanes.
“We took quick action, including exercising positive control over the helicopters and issuing more traffic advisories to pilots,” Rocheleau said. “As a result, the number of traffic alert and collision avoidance system reports decreased by 30 percent in just three weeks.”
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The agency planned to use artificial intelligence to survey millions of reports it collects to assess other places with busy helicopter traffic. In addition to Las Vegas, the FAA looked at airports in Boston, New York, the Baltimore-Washington metro area, Detroit, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, and airports along the Gulf Coast.
The push to review safety at airports comes after the deadly crash over the Potomac River earlier this year, and the dozen other aviation shakeups following that, including a flight flipping upside down upon landing, near misses, and engines catching on fire.
