According to The Washington Times, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) denied a request by air traffic controllers to decrease the number of arriving aircraft at Reagan National Airport months before the catastrophic mid-air collision between a commercial jet and a military helicopter. The outlet cited an internal FAA memo made public by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), saying the request was made in May 2023. The report comes days before the NTSB is scheduled to hold a hearing to disclose everything that contributed to the crash, which killed all 67 people on board both aircraft. FAA denied request to reduce flight arrivals at DC airport months before mid-air collision: Report https://t.co/bpBxh7ffgB — John Solomon (@jsolomonReports) January 23, 2026 More from The Washington Times: The air traffic controllers, who work at Potomac Consolidated Terminal Radar Approach Control (PCT TRACON) in Warrenton, sought a decrease in the number of hourly commercial aircraft arrivals into Reagan, which operates the nation’s busiest runway and is the main airport used by Congressional lawmakers. The PCT TRACON team cited a number of safety factors in their request, including an inability to meter arriving aircraft to maintain the required four miles of spacing between them, which resulted in difficulty managing traffic flow into Reagan. Their request sought to cut arrivals at Reagan’s main runway from 36 to 32 incoming flights per hour. An FAA official, who is now retired and was serving as the FAA’s Washington district general manager, resisted forwarding the request up the chain of command, according to the air traffic controllers. The PCT TRACON team never received a formal written answer to their request. They were instead informed verbally by an unnamed official that the request would not be forwarded up the FAA management chain to avoid the wrath of House and Senate lawmakers. Lawmakers depend on frequent flights in and out of Reagan to travel to and from their districts. At the time, they were also advancing legislation to expand the number of “slots” granted to airlines to fly in and out of Reagan. Scripps News noted that the temporary rules imposed after the deadly collision to improve the safety of the airspace are being made permanent. “After that horrific night in January, this administration made a promise to do whatever it takes to secure the skies over our nation’s capital and ensure such a tragedy would never happen again. Today’s announcement reaffirms that commitment,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said, according to the outlet. “One year after the deadly DCA midair collision, the FAA is making *permanent* restrictions on helicopter flights near the airport—saying the once-temporary changes are needed to prevent a repeat. The rules take effect Friday,” CNN correspondent Pete Muntean stated. JUST IN: One year after the deadly DCA midair collision, the FAA is making *permanent* restrictions on helicopter flights near the airport—saying the once-temporary changes are needed to prevent a repeat. The rules take effect Friday. pic.twitter.com/8zJm7UHwfn — Pete Muntean (@petemuntean) January 23, 2026 Scripps News shared further: The families of the 67 people who died after an Army Black Hawk helicopter struck an American Airlines jet that was preparing to land hope Duffy and Congress will act on the recommendations NTSB is expected to make next week to help prevent a similar tragedy from ever happening again. Matt Collins, who lost his younger brother Chris in the disaster, said he and many of the other families plan to keep going to Washington so often that lawmakers will get sick of seeing them until changes are made. “I hope to have some hearings done in the Senate and Congress, and I hope results come out of these hearings that they have,” said Collins who lives in Dighton, Massachusetts. “I hope we’re not just placated and it falls off into the background until another big news story comes up.” The FAA said the new final rule will take effect on Friday. It will continue to require military aircraft to broadcast their locations using their ADS-B Out systems, which was routinely not done before the crash. And air traffic controllers are not allowed to rely on pilots to ensure visual separation between aircraft within five miles (eight kilometers) of Reagan airport. The NTSB has said that the Black Hawk helicopter in the crash was flying 78 feet (24 meters) higher than the 200-foot (61-meter) limit on the route and likely had a faulty altimeter. But even if the helicopter had been adhering to that limit, the NTSB has said the route design didn’t provide nearly enough separation to ensure safety. Air traffic controllers had warned the FAA years beforehand about the dangers of all the helicopters around the nation’s capital, and the agency failed to recognize an alarming pattern of 85 near misses in the three years before the crash.