The Federal Aviation Administration says helicopters will be permanently banned from flying near Washington, D.C.’s airport on the route where an airliner and an Army helicopter collided in midair.

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.

The investigation into a January midair collision that killed 67 people near Washington, D.C., revealed an alarming number of recent close calls just outside the nation’s capital.

The Federal Aviation Administration said on Friday it is imposing permanent restrictions on non-essential helicopter operations around Washington's Reagan National Airport and eliminating helicopter and passenger jet mixed traffic.

On Friday, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) permanently banned helicopters from flying the same route near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) after a deadly midair collision in January.

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 move follows federal investigators's call for a ban on helo flights on the route, citing a string of near misses in recent years.