By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A U.S. Senate panel approved aviation safety legislation on Tuesday to require the use of advanced aircraft-tracking technology, after the January collision of an American Airlines regional jet and an Army helicopter that killed 67 people. The legislation would mandate that all civilian aircraft, as well as military helicopters near […]
Politics
US lawmakers advance bill to require key aviation tracking technology
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By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A U.S. Senate panel approved aviation safety legislation on Tuesday to require the use of advanced aircraft-tracking technology, after the January collision of an American Airlines regional jet and an Army helicopter that killed 67 people.
The legislation would mandate that all civilian aircraft, as well as military helicopters near civilian planes, be equipped with ADS-B technology by the end of 2031. It would also boost the oversight of mixed jet and helicopter traffic and flight routes near commercial service airports.
The Army Black Hawk helicopter in the fatal crash was not using ADS-B, or automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast, an advanced surveillance technology that transmits an aircraft’s location.
Senate Commerce Committee chair Ted Cruz said the bill “closes a dangerous loophole that allowed military aircraft to operate in domestic skies without communicating their position quickly and accurately to other aviators like commercial aircraft do.”
Lawmakers from both parties and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy have questioned why the Federal Aviation Administration failed to act for years to address close calls involving military helicopters near Washington Reagan National Airport.
The legislation would require safety reviews at Reagan National and other major airports and would direct the Army Inspector General’s Office to initiate a safety coordination audit.
The FAA in April said it would require ADS-B use near Reagan National by government helicopters, and in May barred the Army from helicopter flights around the Pentagon after a close call. The FAA has also taken steps to boost separation between helicopters and jets.
National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy praised the bill, noting that the board had urged requiring ADS-B for three decades.
Senator Maria Cantwell, the top Democrat on the committee, pushed hard for an ADS-B deadline in 2031 and said it would “increase situational awareness and provide traffic advisories and alerting for operations in the air and on the ground at the airport.”
Cantwell cited an NTSB disclosure in March that since 2021 there had been 15,200 air separation incidents near Reagan National between commercial airplanes and helicopters, including 85 close-call events.
Families of those killed in the mid-air collision praised the legislation.
American Airlines said it strongly supports the bipartisan bill while United Airlines said it would work with lawmakers “to make sure this bill accomplishes our shared goals.”
(Reporting by David Shepardson, Editing by Franklin Paul, William Maclean and Edmund Klamann)