In a June 17 public Transportation Research Board (TRB) meeting, U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) personnel suggested the FAA did not adequately weigh the risks of a helicopter-on-helicopter collision when moving to eliminate helicopter routes and change airspace procedures to protect against close calls between rotorcraft and fixed-wing aircraft.

Instead, charting revisions are pushing helicopters closer together, making it harder for crews to train for proficiency and increasing the risk of helicopter controlled flight into terrain (CFIT), the USCG pilots said.

The FAA after the meeting pushed back on the USCG pilots’ assertions, contending that helicopters operating in the region actually faced more conflicts with each other when they had greater access to DCA airspace.