US Senate Committee set to vote on aviation safety legislation next week

The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee is set to vote on October 21 on aviation safety legislation after a fatal January crash between an American Airlines regional jet and an Army helicopter near Reagan Washington National Airport killed 67 people.

The committee is set to take up legislation sponsored by Senate Commerce Committee Chair Ted Cruz and several other senators to require the use of ADS-B, an advanced aircraft-tracking technology, by military helicopters near civilian planes and the use of ADS-B for all civilian aircraft.

The helicopter involved in the accident was not using ADS-B at the time of the January collision.

Reuters first reported next week's planned vote that marks the first significant move toward aviation safety reforms after the deadliest U.S. airplane accident in more than two decades.

Cruz, a Republican, is working with Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell in a bid to reach bipartisan agreement on aviation safety legislation ahead of the hearing, aides to both senators said.

Lawmakers from both parties and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy have questioned why the Federal Aviation Administration failed to act for years to address close calls involving military helicopters near Reagan.

Cruz's bill dubbed the ROTOR Act would also require the Army Inspector General's Office to initiate a safety coordination audit after it declined to do so.

Cantwell and other Democratic senators in June proposed legislation requiring a review of helicopter and passenger operations at major airports, mandating new FAA safety reviews after fatal passenger airline accidents and requiring ADS-B use.

A spokesperson for Cruz said he has been working with families of victims of the crash and is committed to ensuring no other accident like this happens again.

The bill requires "all aircraft, military and civilian, use both ADS-B Out and ADS-B In and seeks to hold the Army accountable for failures that may have contributed to the crash," the spokesperson added.

The FAA in April said it would require ADS-B use near Reagan National by government helicopters, and in May it barred the Army from helicopter flights around the Pentagon after a close call.

Earlier this month, the FAA modified helicopter routes at Baltimore/Washington Thurgood Marshall International Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport to add "additional buffer between aircraft and increase the separation between helicopters and airplanes operating into and out of each airport."