Nationwide Transportation Security Board chairwoman Jennifer Homendy gave a robust rebuke of a protection authorization invoice that rolls again security enhancements. The board beneficial the modifications after the January collision of a navy Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airways regional jet close to Ronald Reagan Washington Nationwide Airport, killing 67 individuals.
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Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Photos
WASHINGTON — In an unusually harsh rebuke, the nation’s high security investigator voiced considerations a few provision within the protection coverage invoice earlier than Congress on Wednesday, warning that it will undermine aviation security enhancements made after a lethal mid-air collision in January.
“It is a security whitewash,” Nationwide Security Transportation Board chair Jennifer Homendy instructed reporters. “If it seems like I am mad, I’m mad. That is shameful.”
Homendy mentioned the NTSB “vehemently” opposes a piece within the huge Nationwide Protection Authorization Act that may roll again security enhancements that had been beneficial by the company after the collision of a navy Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airways regional jet close to Ronald Reagan Washington Nationwide Airport, killing 67 individuals.
After the crash, the Protection Division agreed to require navy plane to broadcast their place utilizing a expertise often known as ADS-B. However the NTSB warns the invoice’s language would create exemptions to the coverage — in impact, recreating situations that had been in place on the time of the DCA collision, which was the nation’s deadliest aviation catastrophe in additional than 20 years.
“We ought to be working collectively in partnership to forestall the subsequent accident, not inviting historical past to repeat itself by recreating the identical situations that had been in place on January twenty ninth,” Homendy mentioned.
Homendy laid out the NTSB’s considerations in a letter to the chairman and rating member of each the Home Armed Providers Committees and the Senate Committee on Armed Providers. She mentioned no legislators had approached her in the course of the drafting of the NDAA, and he or she didn’t know who added the availability in query.
A crane removes airplane wreckage from the Potomac River, the place American Airways flight 5342 collided with a U.S. Military Black Hawk helicopter, close to Ronald Reagan Washington Nationwide Airport in Arlington, Va., on February 3, 2025. All 67 individuals on each plane died.
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In an announcement, the committee leaders defended the language within the invoice.
“All of us care deeply about and are absolutely dedicated to making sure aviation security,” mentioned U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Chairman of the Senate Armed Providers Committee, Rating Member Jack Reed (D-RI), Home Armed Providers Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-AL) and Rating Member Adam Smith (D-Wash.) in an announcement.
They are saying the invoice would require any helicopter conducting coaching missions round Washington, D.C. must present warning of its place to plane within the space (although it doesn’t particularly require using ADS-B), and that the Secretary of a navy division would wish to obtain concurrence from the Secretary of Transportation previous to waiving this requirement.
Nonetheless, some lawmakers on Capitol Hill share the NTSB’s considerations.
“As drafted, the NDAA protects the established order, permitting navy plane to maintain flying in DC airspace beneath completely different guidelines and with outdated transmission necessities,” mentioned a joint assertion from Senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ailing.), the leaders of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. “This comes as Pentagon information exhibits a spike in navy plane accidents since 2020. The households of the victims deserve accountability.”
The senators urged their colleagues in Congress to as an alternative undertake the bipartisan ROTOR Act, which might require plane operators to equip their fleets with ADS-B expertise and restrict exemptions for navy helicopters.
Members of the family of the victims of American Airways Flight 5342 additionally expressed concern in regards to the language within the NDAA.
“The flying public and all people who make the most of our airspace deserve higher than what this invoice offers,” mentioned Tim and Sheri Lilley, whose son, Sam, was the primary officer of Flight 5342, in an announcement. “Congress now has a selection: strengthen this provision and defend the touring public or depart in place the identical vulnerabilities which have already value too many individuals their lives.”
