House considers bill that some say would have prevented deadly DC midair collision

Washington (CNN) — The House of Representatives is set to consider whether a collision avoidance system that supporters say could have prevented last year’s deadly midair collision near Washington should be required on every plane in the US.

Sixty-seven people were killed on January 29, 2025, when a US Army helicopter on a training flight collided with an American Airlines regional jet, operated by PSA Airlines, as it was landing at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

Most aircraft are already required to automatically send out signals known as ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast), which include their location and other data so they can be tracked. The American regional plane was sending out the signal, but Army helicopters did not transmit the data. Neither pilot was able to receive information from the other because their aircraft were only equipped to transmit, not receive, ADS-B information.

The ROTOR Act, introduced in the Senate last year, would require all aircraft transmitting to also receive ADS-B data, called “ADS-B In,” so pilots could use it to look for other aircraft.

“It is clear from our investigation that had the crew had ADS-B In flight 5342 would have had a 59 second alert versus the 19 seconds they had … which was ineffective in preventing the crash,” National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy told CNN Monday.

Holding up a letter dated February 14, 2008, Doug Lane, a father and husband who lost his wife Christine and son Spencer, told a news conference on Tuesday that the Federal Aviation Administration had his son’s whole life to expand ADS-B. The agency failed, he said.

“Sixteen years, six months and 12 days after this letter was written, (Spencer) was dead,” Lane said. “I learned from the NTSB that ADS-B In, recommended in a letter before he was born, would have saved his life, my wife’s life, and 65 other beautiful people.”

The bill would also require military aircraft to use ADS-B to transmit their location in most situations, including during training flights, which the Department of Defense currently opposes.

Democratic Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia said at the news conference said it was a “surprise” to hear Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the department had objections to the bill, “last minute.”

Laura Augendre, who lost her cousin Peter Livingston, his wife Donna, and their daughters Everly and Alydia in the collision, said Congress needs to act now.

“The ROTOR Act takes a critical step forward by ensuring that safety technology is not just available, but operational, and used for the purpose it was designed to serve,” Augendre said. “The best time to make these changes was years ago. The next best time is today.”

A House committee is proposing a competing bill, called the ALERT Act, which it says is a wide-ranging measure to address all 50 issues the NTSB brought up in its report.

“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,” said House transportation committee chair Sam Graves, a Missouri Republican. “The ROTOR Act touches on only two of the NTSB’s 50 recommendations and provides an overly prescriptive approach to mandating a specific technology, which is still largely under development, in a manner that can prove burdensome to some operators and create barriers to its adoption.”

But the NTSB says many of the measures fall short of addressing their concerns.

“We stand ready to work with the House but saying that they implement our recommendations right now is completely false. It does not implement our recommendations in many, many areas,” Homendy said. “Claiming falsely that they implement our recommendations is not right and that does make me angry.”

The ALERT Act, would not require ADS-B on every aircraft, specifically having a rulemaking committee look at “collision mitigation” technology and would exempt many aircraft, like those commonly flown by private pilots.

The act also requires some aircraft be equipped with technology “capable” of receiving ADS-B transmissions, but does not require they actually to use it.

Military aircraft under the ALERT Act would also be allowed to fly without broadcasting their location.

Homendy said she hopes the committee will work with the NTSB to make the changes needed to improve the ALERT Act, but it does not work in its current form.

“Congress can pass ROTOR, and then we can take up jointly all the other recommendations for the House to address,” she said.

Rep. Troy Nehls, a Republican from Texas, called the ROTOR Act not “perfect,” but said he would vote for it.

“We do have other bipartisan legislation in the works that can even take safety further. But that doesn’t mean that we should not act on the ROTOR Act, and it has my complete and total support.”

This story has been updated with additional information.

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