Senators propose sweeping air safety reforms after January fatal collision

WASHINGTON — A group of seven Democratic senators on Thursday introduced sweeping air safety legislation after a fatal collision between an Army helicopter and an American Airlines regional jet in January near Reagan Washington National Airport killed 67 people.

Lawmakers have questioned why the Federal Aviation Administration failed to act for years to address close calls involving helicopters near Reagan.

The legislation would require a review of helicopter and passenger operations at major airports, mandate new FAA safety reviews after fatal passenger airline accidents and require the use of ADS-B, an advanced aircraft-tracking technology.

The FAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, a Republican, has held a series of aviation hearings and called for action by the FAA and the Army to reduce the risks of collisions. Cruz did not respond immediately to a request for comment on whether he supported the Democratic proposal.

Sen. Maria Cantwell, the top Democrat on the Commerce Committee that oversees the FAA, said the collision "exposed critical gaps in aviation safety oversight."

She said the legislation "closes dangerous loopholes that allowed aircraft to operate without essential safety technology, mandates modern surveillance systems that enhance pilot awareness of nearby aircraft, and ensures the FAA finally acts on the data instead of ignoring it."

The Army Black Hawk helicopter did not have ADS-B operating during a routine training mission when it collided with the American jet. The FAA in April said it would require ADS-B use near Reagan National by government helicopters except in cases such as "active national security missions."

Families of those killed in the American jet's crash said the bill "marks a meaningful step forward in aviation safety — a cause that is no longer abstract for our families, but personal and deeply urgent."

The FAA has suspended Army helicopter flights around the Pentagon after a May 1 near-miss incident.

There have also been a series of other troubling near-misses in recent months.

The National Transportation Safety Board said in March that since 2021, there have been more than 15,200 occurrences between commercial airplanes and helicopters with lateral separation distance of less than 1 nautical mile and vertical separation of less than 400 feet, and 85 close-call incidents during that period at Washington Reagan.

Acting FAA Administrator Chris Rocheleau acknowledged in March that the data was troubling. "Clearly something was missed," Rocheleau said.

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