Senate approves bill inspired by DC plane crash to ensure military aircraft will broadcast location

The Senate moved quickly Wednesday afternoon to close a loophole that could allow military aircraft to fly without broadcasting their locations just like an Army helicopter was doing last January before it collided with an airliner over Washington, D.C., killing 67 people.

Just hours after passing a massive defense bill that included the worrisome provisions about military flights, the Senate approved a bipartisan bill that will require all aircraft use ADS-B technology — or Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast technology — to broadcast their locations.

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz said that “tragedy could have been avoided” if the Army Black Hawk had been using its ADS-B system to broadcast its location before the crash, and this bill should save lives.

It is not clear exactly when the ROTOR act that Cruz and Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell and the rest of the Commerce Committee supports will be taken up by the House and whether changes will be made. But Cruz said that the White House supports the version that passed the Senate Wednesday and promised to help get it approved. Cruz said he is optimistic the bill could head to the president’s desk as soon as next month.

Republican leaders decided not to delay the defense bill by amending it to address the flight safety concerns because doing that would have sent the bill back to the House for another vote.

The final report on the crash won’t be completed until sometime next year. But Cruz said it makes sense to take this step now to force the military to operate under the same rules as airliners do around Washington, D.C., after the National Transportation Safety Board found 85 near misses in the three years before the crash.

The NTSB has been recommending requiring these locator systems for decades, but it has never been enacted partly because of concerns about the potential cost burden on the average Cessna owner and privacy concerns because the system would allow their planes to be tracked. Airline jets and newer general aviation planes are already equipped with a version of an ADS-B. The Black Hawk helicopter involved in the deadly collision with a plane trying to land at Reagan National Airport also had such a system, but it was flying with it turned off because the military was concerned about observers being able to pinpoint its location during a training mission.

Parents Tim and Sheri Lilley whose son Sam was the first officer on the American Airlines jet that crashed after striking the helicopter said “today’s action acknowledges the magnitude of that loss and affirms that meaningful change can come from it.”

In March, the Federal Aviation Administration required all military helicopters to turn on their locator systems at all times when flying through the crowded airspace around the nation’s capital. The agency also took action to ensure that helicopters and planes would no longer share the same airspace by pausing takeoffs and landings anytime a helicopter is passing the airport and closing some routes.

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford promised Tuesday to maintain those safety measures to ensure flying around Washington doesn’t get riskier even if the military bill becomes law. Bedford testified at a Senate committee Wednesday afternoon.

The bill also requires a review of safety at airports across the country to ensure they don’t face the same hazards that contributed to the crash at Reagan Airport. And the military and FAA will have to share safety data more freely.