US lawmakers seek tougher safety rules for military helicopters

Cruz-Cantwell bill proposes tougher safety requirements Defense bill allows transportation secretary to allow waivers Crash victims’ families demand enforceable visibility standards By David Shepardson WASHINGTON, Dec 11 - U.S. lawmakers on Thursday pressed to strengthen military helicopter safety rules proposed in an annual defense bill, following this year’s fatal crash between an Army Black Hawk and an American Airlines passenger jet that killed 67 people. U.S. Senate Commerce Committee chair Ted Cruz, a Republican, and the panel’s top Democrat Maria Cantwell, on Thursday filed an amendment to strike the military helicopter language in the defense bill and insert tougher requirements approved by the committee in October. The Cruz-Cantwell bill would require aircraft operators by the end of 2031 to equip their fleets with an automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast system, also known as ADS-B. The advanced tracking technology allows aircraft to automatically broadcast their precise position, altitude, velocity and identity. The Cruz-Cantwell bill also proposes other significant safety reforms, including boosting oversight of mixed jet and helicopter traffic and flight routes near commercial airports. “We owe it to the families to put into law actual safety improvements, not give the Department of Defense bigger loopholes to exploit,” the senators said in a joint statement, deriding the proposal in the defense bill. Aviation safety in the Washington area has come under scrutiny after the January 29 collision near Reagan Washington National Airport. The Army Black Hawk helicopter involved in the crash was flying above maximum altitude levels and not broadcasting ADS-B at the time. After a close call in May, the Federal Aviation Administration barred the Army from helicopter flights around the Pentagon. The defense bill would require U.S. military helicopters on training missions to broadcast alerts to nearby commercial aviation aircraft, but does not specify the type of alerts. The Defense Department could waive the requirement if a risk assessment had been completed and those risks to commercial planes could be addressed. Cantwell said the defense bill would roll back FAA rules imposed since the crash. “It leaves the public less safe,” Cantwell said. The top Republicans and Democrats on the House and Senate Armed Services committees defended the less strict provision, saying any waiver still needs the concurrence of the transportation secretary. “These important requirements are critical first steps that will help make our skies safer … We agree that there is more that needs to be done,” said the lawmakers on the Armed Services committees. Republican Troy Nehls, who chairs a House aviation subcommittee, said Thursday the defense bill “fails to seriously consider the safety of DC’s congested airspace.” National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy also called the defense bill helicopter proposal “an unacceptable risk to the flying public.” Families of those killed in the January 29 collision oppose the language in the defense bill. In a statement, they called for “real, enforceable visibility standards for all military aircraft operating near civilian traffic.”