The transportation secretary’s decision came after the National Transportation Safety Board cited a long history of near collisions between helicopters and airplanes near the nation’s capital.

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.”

Helicopter traffic should be permanently banned near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport during certain periods to alleviate congestion and avoid a repeat of the deadly midair collision that occurred there in January,