Aviation authorities on Friday permanently closed part of a helicopter route east and southeast of Reagan National Airport where an Army Black Hawk collided with an airliner in January, killing 67 people,

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.

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.