Washington Reagan National Airport limits flights as FAA investigates fatal crash

The Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday it would slow the arrivals rate at Ronald Reagan National Airport (DCA) outside of Washington as weather and recovery efforts were affecting flight paths into the airport.

Last week, a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines regional jet collided as the jet was coming in to land at DCA. The crash killed 67 people, and National Transportation Safety Board investigators continue to recover wreckage from the scene.

Simultaneously, a winter storm hit the East Coast overnight Wednesday into Thursday, complicating travel around the Northeast.

"The FAA is slowing traffic into and out of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport due to weather conditions and recovery efforts in the area," the FAA said in a statement to USA TODAY.

The move was first reported by Reuters, which said that arrivals would be reduced from 28 per hour to 26 per hour during the slowdown.

The reduced arrivals rate would likely lead to a slight increase in average delay lengths at the airport while it was in force.

The FAA did not immediately confirm the details of the reduction or how long it would be in place to USA TODAY.

According to Reuters, "investigators from the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board 'have expressed concern for our tower personnel on duty, who have an increased level of stress while also having a front row view of the accident recovery,' " and the flow rate reduction is meant, in part, to ease the workload of controllers at DCA.

Contributing: Reuters

Zach Wichter is a travel reporter and writes the Cruising Altitude column for USA TODAY. He is based in New York and you can reach him at [email protected].