Congress’ annual defense bill has sparked aviation safety concerns, with lawmakers and the National Transportation Safety Board warning it threatens what they view as critical changes made following a fatal collision between a commercial plane and military helicopter near Washington, D.C., in January.
The lengthy bill includes a last-minute provision allowing military aircraft to operate in the D.C. airspace without broadcasting their location to nearby aircraft.
That provision, safety advocates and lawmakers argued, reverses an agreement between regulators and the Department of Defense to require military aircraft to broadcast their locations, using a system known as Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast, or ADS-B.
The military's decision to not use the system has been heavily scrutinized since the crash and is a major focus of a NTSB investigation into the crash.
In Washington state, Democratic lawmakers split on how to respond to the late change in the defense bill.
Rep. Adam Smith, D-Bellevue, and ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, was heavily involved in crafting the defense bill and said ahead of the vote that “it deserves support.” He voted Wednesday to support the bill.
Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Everett and ranking member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, acknowledged it was “not a perfect bill” but voted to pass the legislation.
Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, introduced an amendment Thursday to strike that section entirely and replace it with legislation that would strengthen requirements for military aircraft operating in D.C. airspace.
Among the Democrats in Washington's House delegation, Suzan DelBene, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, Kim Schrier and Marilyn Strickland voted to pass the bill. Pramila Jayapal and Emily Randall voted against.
Republican Reps. Michael Baumgartner and Dan Newhouse voted to pass the legislation.
The Army Black Hawk helicopter that collided with an American Airlines regional jet flying from Wichita, Kan., killing 67 people, was likely operating without the system that would have made it visible to other planes.
Following that Jan. 29 collision, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Defense agreed to require military aircraft in the D.C. airspace to operate with ADS-B Out, the part of the system that broadcasts an aircraft’s location to other planes and air traffic control. ADS-B In allows aircraft to receive that data.
The provision in the National Defense Authorization Act, which the House passed Wednesday, would weaken that agreement, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said.
It would again allow some military aircraft to operate in D.C. airspace without broadcasting their locations, essentially returning to the same conditions that were in place before the fatal collision.
“This is a major step backward,” Homendy wrote in a letter to lawmakers Wednesday.
“This provision is an unacceptable risk to the flying public, to commercial and military aircraft crews and to residents of the region, Homendy wrote. "It’s also an unthinkable dismissal to our investigation and of 67 families who lost loved ones in a tragedy that was entirely preventable.”
The section in the defense bill would require aircraft to comply with another system meant to prevent aircraft from getting too close to one another, called the traffic alert and collision avoidance system, or TCAS. But Homendy argued that system was inadequate.
Below 1,000 feet, the TCAS system stops telling a pilot to climb or descend to avoid a collision, in order to avoid accidentally running the plane into the ground. Below 500 feet, TCAS stops voice warnings alerting pilots of traffic, in order to allow the pilot to focus on landing.
The fatal collision occurred at 278 feet, Homendy said.
The flight crew on the American Airlines plane received a TCAS warning, but it didn’t prevent the collision, she continued.
Under the new provision, Defense Department officials would determine when military aircraft could operate without ADS-B.
Homendy said the NTSB did not trust that the department could “adequately evaluate the safety of the airspace.”
“The language seems to allow military departments to do what they want in the D.C. airspace with very little input from the Secretary (of Transportation) and none from the FAA, aviation industry and others impacted,” Homendy wrote. “I urge you to consider the consequences of this provision.”
Cantwell and Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, chair of the Senate transportation committee, agreed on legislation in October to close the “loophole” that allowed military aircraft to operate without ADS-B Out, as well as increase oversight of areas where both military and commercial aircraft operate.
“We know what happened when a Black Hawk … wasn’t actively transmitting its location,” Cantwell said in a speech Wednesday. “So I don’t know why we have to have a letter from the NTSB telling us what we’re doing … is making the airspace less safe."
In a statement immediately after voting for the bill, Larsen championed some provisions, like increased pay for military service members and continued funding for Ukraine. He lamented that it did not include other elements, like access to fertility treatments for service members and collective bargaining rights for Defense Department civilian employees.
He did not mention section 373, the language about military aircraft operations in D.C. In a second statement released Thursday, Larsen addressed the controversial provision.
The “midair collision exposed critical safety issues within the country’s aviation system and an urgent need for immediate reforms,” Larsen said.
In a joint statement, Smith and other members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees defended the provision. The bipartisan group of lawmakers pointed to other safeguards in place to ensure safe operations in the D.C. airspace, the same safeguards Homendy says are inadequate.
Those elements are "critical first steps that will help make our skies safer,” the lawmakers wrote. The statement continued, "We agree that there is more that needs to be done.
The defense bill now goes to the Senate for a vote, then to President Donald Trump's desk.
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