National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy strongly criticized a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act that she says would roll back aviation safety improvements the NTSB recommended after a deadly mid-air collision in January. The crash—a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines regional jet near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport—killed 67 people and was the nation’s deadliest aviation disaster in more than 20 years.
Homendy called the provision “a safety whitewash” and said the NTSB “vehemently” opposes language that would create exemptions to a Defense Department agreement to require military aircraft to broadcast position information using ADS-B technology. The NTSB warns the bill’s exemptions could effectively recreate the conditions that existed at the time of the DCA collision.
“We should be working together in partnership to prevent the next accident, not inviting history to repeat itself by recreating the same conditions that were in place on January 29th,” Homendy said. She outlined the board’s concerns in a letter to the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees and said no legislators had consulted the NTSB while drafting the NDAA language; she did not know who added the provision.
Committee leaders defended the bill’s language, saying they are committed to aviation safety. Senators Roger Wicker and Jack Reed and Representatives Mike Rogers and Adam Smith said the bill would require helicopters conducting training missions around Washington, D.C., to provide warning of their position to other aircraft, and would require a military service secretary to obtain concurrence from the Transportation Secretary before waiving that requirement. The provision, they said, does not specifically mandate ADS-B.
Some lawmakers outside the armed services committees share the NTSB’s concerns. Senators Ted Cruz, Maria Cantwell, Jerry Moran and Tammy Duckworth said the NDAA as drafted “protects the status quo,” allowing military aircraft to operate in D.C. airspace under different rules and with outdated transmission requirements. They pointed to Pentagon data showing a spike in military aircraft accidents since 2020 and urged adoption of the bipartisan ROTOR Act, which would require operators to equip fleets with ADS-B and limit exemptions for military helicopters.
Family members of American Airlines Flight 5342 victims also criticized the NDAA language. Tim and Sheri Lilley, whose son Sam was the flight’s first officer, said the flying public deserves better and urged Congress to strengthen the provision to protect travelers rather than leaving vulnerabilities that have already cost lives.