The National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday recommended that helicopter traffic be banned from a four-mile stretch over the Potomac River when flights are landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport.

The NTSB’s preliminary report on the Jan. 29 crash that killed 67 people current helicopter routes allowed around the airport are an ‘intolerable risk to aviation safety.’

The National Transportation Safety Board issued urgent safety recommendations Tuesday, warning that helicopter flights near the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport pose serious safety risks and one helicopter route should be closed during airport operations.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal investigators looking for the cause of the January collision between a passenger jet and an Army helicopter near Washington, D.C., that killed 67 people recommended a ban on some helicopter flights Tuesday to improve safety, saying the current setup “poses an intolerable risk.”

The National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday released two reports — one on preliminary findings and another on safety recommendations — related to the deadly collision of an Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines regional jet in January.

The National Transportation Safety Board plans to issue a preliminary report on Tuesday into the Jan. 29 collision between a helicopter and an American Airlines jet that killed 67 people near Washington Reagan National Airport.

There's an "intolerable risk to aviation safety" with helicopters and planes flying too close to one another near DCA.

Authorities give update on the investigation into the passenger jet and helicopter collision that killed 67 people in January. Image credit: US Coast Guard