NTSB chair urges Congress to pass aviation safety legislation

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, July 27 (Reuters) – The head of the National Transportation Safety Board on Monday urged Congress to resolve a months-long standoff over competing aviation safety measures and approve significant reforms.

NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said the board had “provided a clear roadmap to improve aviation safety and reduce the risk of another catastrophic midair collision. Now it’s time for action that was promised months ago.”

The U.S. House of Representatives in April voted 396-10 to pass a sweeping aviation safety reform bill to address dozens of recommendations issued after a January 2025 collision ‌of an American Airlines regional jet and a U.S. Army helicopter that killed 67 people, while a rival bill known as the ROTOR Act passed the U.S. Senate unanimously in December but needed a two-thirds majority in the House to pass under fast-track rules and it fell one vote short.

The NTSB said ADS-B would have prevented the 2025 collision in the crowded airspace near the nation’s capital.

In January, the NTSB found systemic failures by the FAA led to the collision that was the worst U.S. aviation disaster since ⁠2001.

The House legislation requires installation of ​collision-prevention technologies on all military aircraft by 2031, except fighters, bombers and ​drones, and establishes requirements for equipping collision-mitigation technologies for civilian airplanes ⁠and helicopters.

Talks have been ongoing between the House and Senate to resolve the differences.

The head of the Federal Aviation Administration, Bryan Bedford, told Reuters earlier this month he had provided technical assistance to Congress on the bills.

“More situational awareness faster is better than waiting for the perfect solution that might not happen for six or seven years,” Bedford said, adding the FAA could move forward on ADS-B without action from Congress but would prefer direction from lawmakers.

The NTSB determined the ‌2025 accident was caused by the FAA’s decision to allow ⁠helicopters to travel close to the airport with no safeguards ​to separate ‌them from airplanes and its failure to review data ​and act on ⁠recommendations to move helicopter traffic away from the airport.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chris Reese and Aurora Ellis)