A group of Democratic U.S. senators have introduced a bill aimed at better coordinating commercial and military flights in response to a midair collision earlier this year that killed 67 people.
The Safe Operation of Shared Airspace Act would require military and other noncommercial federal flights to use the ADS-B Out navigation system that commercial flights do, shield the FAA from future hiring freezes, and establish an agency office to oversee the coordination of flight paths with the Pentagon.
There are also specific provisions aimed at improving the safety of airspace at and around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (KDCA), where an American Eagle flight was heading before it collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River on January 29.
The bill was introduced by Senators. Maria Cantwell (Washington), Tammy Duckworth (Illinois), Amy Klobuchar (Minnesota), Raphael Warnock (Georgia), Tim Kaine (Virginia), Mark Warner (Virginia.), and Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts).
“It’s time for Congress to get off the bench and solve the problems the NTSB identified because the families deserve action,” Cantwell said in a statement. “The DCA tragedy claimed 67 lives and exposed critical gaps in aviation safety oversight—over 15,000 near misses should have been a glaring warning sign. This 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.”
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Family members of the passengers killed in the collision issued a statement in favor of the bill, as did the parents of Sam Lilley, the American Eagle flight’s first officer.
The proposal was also endorsed by the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA).
The act would end loopholes exempting Defense Department and other federal flights from using ADS-B Out while in the vicinity of Reagan National and other busy airports. The Black Hawk involved in the January crash was equipped with ADS-B Out but not transmitting, the senators said, which made it functionally invisible to nearby civilian aircraft. Commercial airlines would have four years to ensure that all their aircraft have ADS-B and that it is activated unless otherwise instructed by an air traffic controller.
A joint FAA-Pentagon safety review would take place at Reagan National to assess how helicopters, drones, and other military flights are affecting civilian operations. The same type of evaluation would follow at other Class B airports.
The bill aims to strengthen the FAA by boosting hiring of controllers, shielding the agency from future hiring freezes, and prohibiting the executive branch from offering deferred resignation programs or voluntary buyouts to the agency’s workforce. It would also establish an FAA office that would work with the DOD to oversee and coordinate military flights and keep them out of airspace used by commercial aircraft.
Additionally, the proposal mandates information sharing between the FAA and all branches of the military, which is not currently in place.
The Potomac collision, which remains under investigation by the NTSB, raised concerns about staffing shortages at the FAA and the high number of near misses between civilian and military aircraft at and around Reagan National specifically.
The Black Hawk involved in the collision was used to transport senior U.S. officials and soldiers. It was on a training mission at the time of the accident.
Some elected officials, including Cantwell, have called for the suspension of all military helicopter flights near Reagan National. The flights were paused in January following the collision and then again in May after a close call involving an Army Black Hawk forced two commercial aircraft to abort their landings.
