Panels unveil aviation safety text as House sets vote on Senate bill

Leaders of two House panels released wide-ranging legislation Thursday that would require military helicopters to install and use location data technology that could have prevented a fatal air crash in Washington more than a year ago, and address dozens of other safety recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board.

The draft bill would set equipment requirements for collision avoidance for fixed-wing and rotor aircraft, alter helicopter route design, enhance air traffic controller training and procedures, and seek to update the Federal Aviation Administration’s safety culture, among other provisions.

The proposal would require aircraft to have so-called ADS-B In (Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast), or position broadcasting and surveillance technology. The draft bill would also repeal a provision of the fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act that provided exemptions from that technology for some military aircraft, according to a summary.

House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Sam Graves, R-Mo., and ranking member Rick Larsen, D-Wash., along with Armed Services Chairman Mike D. Rogers, R-Ala., and ranking member Adam Smith, D-Wash., released the draft and said in a joint statement that it addresses 50 recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board last month.

“The NTSB provided a thorough investigation into all of the factors that caused this crash,” Graves said in a statement with the other three panel leaders. “As I have said from the beginning, the best way to serve and honor the victims and their families is by thoughtfully addressing the broad range of safety issues raised by the now-complete accident investigation, and that’s just what the ALERT Act does.”

The draft bill’s release also comes as the House is expected to vote next week on a bill from Senate Commerce Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas. The Cruz bill would more narrowly address aviation safety than the House bill. But NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy gave legislative action more urgency when she told the Senate Commerce Committee last week that the crash “wouldn’t have occurred” if Cruz’s bill had been law.

Rogers appeared to be skeptical of the Cruz bill in the statement.

“Rather than take a piecemeal approach, the Armed Services Committee worked closely with our counterparts on T&I to craft comprehensive legislation that makes our skies safer for airline passengers and for the servicemembers who fly critical missions for our national security,” he said.

A source familiar with the issue said House bill sponsors are concerned passage of the Senate bill would make their legislation — which they see as more comprehensive — less likely to move quickly.

The crash at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport between an Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines regional airline in January 2025 killed all 67 people aboard the two craft.

The Families of Flight 5342, a group of family members of those killed in the crash, lobbied House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., in a letter Tuesday, urging swift passage of the Senate bill and saying it, “directly addresses several of the safety gaps the NTSB identified as contributing factors in the crash.”

“While we recognize that additional work remains to fully address all NTSB recommendations, ROTOR is a critical step that can reduce known and documented risks in our airspace today. Acting now does not preclude further reform; it begins it,” they wrote, referring to the Cruz bill.

The House committee leaders said their bill responded to each of the 50 safety recommendations the NTSB made in its final report on the crash, released last month. That report also recommended new airborne collision avoidance systems, narrowing the exceptions for required advisory reports, defining a close-proximity encounter and establishing a database of such events, and reexamining the arrival rate at Reagan airport.

Cruz and his counterpart on the committee, ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., released a statement on their bill ahead of the House bill text’s release, saying they are “encouraged that House lawmakers are ready to vote to enact the NTSB’s post-DCA crash safety recommendations, including the ROTOR Act.”

Valerie Yurk contributed to this report.

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