The chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, Jennifer Homendy, sharply criticized a provision in the annual defense authorization bill, saying it would weaken safety measures adopted after the deadly January midair collision near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. That crash, involving a U.S. Army Black Hawk and an American Airlines regional jet, killed 67 people and spurred the NTSB to recommend new precautions.
Homendy called the disputed language “a safety whitewash” and said the NTSB “vehemently” opposes wording in the National Defense Authorization Act that would reintroduce exemptions to a key safety rule. After the collision, the Defense Department agreed to require many military aircraft to broadcast their positions using ADS-B, a tracking technology that helps other aircraft and controllers see an aircraft’s location. The NTSB says the NDAA text would allow waivers that essentially restore the conditions that existed on Jan. 29, when the nation suffered its deadliest aviation disaster in more than two decades.
“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 wrote in a letter to the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees. She noted she was not consulted while the provision was drafted and said she does not know who added the language.
Committee leaders defended the NDAA language in a joint statement, saying they remain committed to aviation safety. They contend the bill would require helicopters conducting training missions around Washington, D.C., to provide a position warning to other aircraft, though the text does not explicitly mandate ADS-B. The bill would also require a military service secretary to obtain concurrence from the secretary of transportation before waiving that requirement.
Some lawmakers share the NTSB’s concerns. Senators Ted Cruz, Maria Cantwell, Jerry Moran and Tammy Duckworth, leaders on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, said the NDAA “protects the status quo” by allowing different rules and older transmission standards for military flights in D.C. airspace. They pointed to Pentagon data showing a rise in military aircraft accidents since 2020 and urged Congress to pass the bipartisan ROTOR Act, which would require fleets to be equipped with ADS-B and would limit blanket military exemptions.
Relatives of victims also criticized the bill’s wording. Tim and Sheri Lilley, whose son Sam was the first officer on American Airlines Flight 5342, said the traveling public deserves stronger protections and urged lawmakers to close the vulnerabilities that have already cost lives.