FAA identifies Las Vegas airport as helicopter collision hotspot
April 27, 2025
In its most recent ‘safety roundtable,’ the FAA has highlighted Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas as an immediate concern regarding the proximity of chartered helicopter routes and nearby fixed-wing traffic.
Part of an ongoing safety initiative, the FAA noted that while it “began this work months before [April’s] air tour helicopter crash in the Hudson River, that accident underscored that aviation safety is not static. There is always room for improvement”.
After initially permanently restricting non-essential helicopter operations near Reagan Washington National Airport, the FAA subsequently began analysing what it termed other ‘hotspot’ airports that have chartered helicopter routes and nearby aeroplane traffic. This investigation includes “machine learning and language modelling to scan incident reports and mine multiple data sources to find themes and areas of risk,” confirmed the FAA.
However, with “several immediate issues” identified at Las Vegas, the FAA’s “initial focus” has therefore focused on increasing the safety of operations there. With local helicopter operators lacking vertical and lateral measurements pertaining to arrival and departure corridors, the FAA has taken “quick action” to exercise positive control,” as well as instructing tower controllers to issue more traffic advisories. These measures, concluded the FAA, has reduced the number of reported ‘proximity events’ by 30% in three weeks.
Alongside its “additional actions” planned around Las Vegas, the regulator will also continue to analyse traffic flows around Los Angeles’ Hollywood Burbank and Van Nuys Airport, which each “serve a wide mix of aircraft, and …have closely spaced arrival and departure paths”.
Additionally, an Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) has also been formed to “begin developing recommendations for improving commercial air tour safety,” meeting a requirement of the 2024 FAA Reauthorization Act. The first meeting will be held on 20 May and recommendations will be provided to the FAA by late September.
