Victims’ families press ADS-B mandate after D.C. crash
Relatives of victims of January’s fatal midair collision over the Potomac met this week in Washington with NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy and Senate Commerce leaders Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell to urge aviation safety reforms. The NTSB probe continues as Sen. Cruz backs the Rotorcraft Operations Transparency and Reform Act, introduced in July, to require all aircraft—including military—to use ADS-B Out and In after investigators noted the Army Black Hawk was flying without the tracking equipment turned on; families also raised shutdown-related concerns about unpaid TSA and air traffic controllers.
Politics
Transportation
📌 Key Facts
- Families met this week with NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy and Sens. Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell on Capitol Hill
- The January crash involved an Army Black Hawk and an American Eagle flight over the Potomac; four members of one family were killed
- Cruz’s July bill (Rotorcraft Operations Transparency and Reform Act) would mandate ADS-B Out and In for military and civilian aircraft; the Army helicopter did not have ADS-B turned on and the military has a waiver