Bipartisan senators moved last week to change a sweeping defense bill after crash investigators and victims’ families warned it would unwind safety measures adopted after a midair collision over Washington, D.C., that killed 67 people. The concern is blunt. The bill, they say, reopens doors that were closed for a reason.
The chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, relatives of the victims, and members of the Senate Commerce Committee said the House-passed language would make U.S. airspace less safe.
The provisions would allow military aviation to operate much as it did before the January crash, the deadliest in more than two decades.
Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell and Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, the committee’s chair, filed amendments to strip out the helicopter language and replace it with a bill they introduced last summer to tighten safety rules.
Whether GOP leadership allows changes to the National Defense Authorization Act remains uncertain. Amending it now could slow passage.
“We owe it to the families to put into law actual safety improvements, not give the Department of Defense bigger loopholes to exploit,” the senators said.
At issue is how helicopters operate around the nation’s capital. The House bill includes exceptions that would let military aircraft fly through congested airspace without using ADS-B, the system that broadcasts precise location data.
The FAA began requiring ADS-B use in March. NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy called the rollback a serious step backward.
“It represents an unacceptable risk to the flying public, to commercial and military aircraft and crews, and to people on the ground,” Homendy said. She said the proposal dismisses the investigation and the loss suffered by 67 families.
Labor groups joined the criticism. Unions representing pilots, flight attendants, and other transportation workers questioned why Congress would carve out exemptions now.
Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants, said the language undercuts NTSB safety guidance and makes little sense.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he’s reviewing the concerns and suggested a different route. He pointed to the aviation safety bill Cantwell and Cruz filed last summer that would require all aircraft operators to use both ADS-B Out and ADS-B In.
Most planes already carry ADS-B Out. ADS-B In would require upgrades by airlines. The proposal would also end a Defense Department exemption allowing transmission requests to be declined.
“I think that would resolve the concerns,” Thune said, adding he hopes to find a way to move the bill quickly.
Before the crash, the military routinely relied on national security waivers to avoid broadcasting helicopter locations, citing security risks. Tim and Sheri Lilley, whose son Sam served as first officer on the American Airlines jet, said the House bill offers only surface fixes and still allows requirements to be set aside after minimal review.
Military helicopters, including the Black Hawk involved in the collision, transmitted some data via transponders. The FAA has said ADS-B data is more precise.
The NTSB has urged universal adoption for decades. The Army worried that open broadcasts could expose locations to anyone with a receiver, including hobbyists.
Homendy pushed back hard on letting the military assess its own safety risk. She said neither the Army nor the FAA flagged 85 close calls near Ronald Reagan National Airport in the years before the crash. No one drafting the bill consulted NTSB experts, she said.
Aviation attorney Bob Clifford, who represents the first family to sue, said the military should not sidestep Transportation Department measures taken after NTSB recommendations.
“67 innocent people lost their lives because of unnecessary secrecy in public airspace,” he said.
The NTSB’s final report won’t arrive until next year. Investigators have already identified dozens of contributing factors, including the helicopter flying too high on a route with minimal separation from aircraft landing on a secondary runway.
The airline pilots received a traffic alert about 20 seconds before impact, but at low altitude the collision-avoidance system’s guidance was limited to avoid false alarms and because maneuvering room was thin.
The White House and the military did not immediately respond to questions. Earlier this week, President Trump said he wants to sign the defense bill, which advances his priorities and includes a 3.8% pay raise for many service members. The safety fight, for now, remains unresolved.
