The Senate Commerce Committee hearing on Thursday turned grieving families’ anger into a policy argument, as lawmakers pressed Congress to weigh a mandate they say has been backed by aviation investigators for years. The families and senators linked the reforms to last year’s midair collision near Washington that killed 67 people, including 28 members of the figure skating community traveling aboard an American Airlines jet and everyone aboard a nearby Army helicopter.
At the center of the legislative push is a pair of locator systems known as Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast, or ADS-B: ADS-B Out, which continually broadcasts an aircraft’s location and speed, and ADS-B In, which receives those broadcasts and can display where other aircraft are around the pilot. The committee hearing focused on why the National Transportation Safety Board has urged since 2008 that all aircraft be equipped with both kinds of systems around busy airports, noting that ADS-B Out is already required while ADS-B In is not standard.
The Senate has already moved ahead. Legislators described the ROTOR act as having been unanimously approved in the Senate, with the intent to require both ADS-B components for aircraft operating near busy airports. But in the House, lawmakers at the hearing indicated they were not planning to simply consider the Senate-passed bill. Commerce Committee Chairman Sen. Ted Cruz said he is concerned that House discussion could include exemptions that would undercut the mandate, and he argued that allowing loopholes would not make sense for the plane involved in the crash, which he said was flown by a regional airline.
Cruz said “Flying can only be safe when everyone follows the same standards,” and he said he hopes the House will vote on the measure in the next two weeks to send it to the president’s desk. Rep. Sam Graves, who leads the House Transportation Committee, responded Thursday that he does not plan to consider the Senate bill and said, “We’re going to do our own bill.” The contrast set the stage for families’ demand that lawmakers move quickly from hearings to votes.
Several lawmakers and witnesses tied the technology to a specific warning window they say could have changed the outcome. They said that if the American Airlines jet and the helicopter had both had ADS-B In capability, pilots might have received nearly a minute of advanced warning. The warning, they said, would have included more than location alone by indicating where the other aircraft was—while noting that for ADS-B In to function, the helicopter’s ADS-B Out system would need to be turned on and working correctly, which they said was not the case the night of the crash.
NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy was the only witness called to the hearing, where lawmakers reviewed all 50 of the NTSB’s recommendations aimed at preventing another midair collision like the one that occurred on Jan. 29, 2025. Homendy endorsed the ADS-B-related requirement as one measure she said could overcome systemic problems identified by the board, pointing to a long history of recommendations: this would be the 18th time the NTSB has urged the technology.
Families pressed the point with personal testimony. Amy Hunter, whose cousin Peter Livingston died in the crash with his wife and two young daughters, said, “This seems like a no-brainer, right? Especially when this is not a new thing that they’re proposing.” Sen. Tammy Duckworth also faulted the FAA, saying it failed to act on warnings the year after a similar near miss in 2013 involving risks helicopters posed around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Duckworth said, “FAA’s failure in the face of blaring alarm bells, screaming out that it was a matter of when — not if — one of the near misses at DCA would become a deadly tragedy is, unfortunately, emblematic of a chronic crisis that’s plagued FAA for years.”
Duckworth noted that after the near miss, the FAA made changes, including prohibiting helicopters from flying along the route where the crash happened when a plane is landing on DCA’s secondary runway and requiring all aircraft to use their ADS-B Out systems to broadcast their locations. Families said the crash anniversary and the NTSB hearing have been difficult, and the Olympics added a fresh reminder for Hunter and others that their loved ones—such as young Everly and Alydia Livingston—will not have a chance to compete.
Lawmakers also faced arguments about implementation costs and aircraft readiness. The hearing highlighted that upgrading some aircraft could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, a potential burden for some airlines and general aviation operators, and it was raised that some systems have not yet been designed and certified for certain aircraft models, including the CRJ types involved in the crash. At the same time, advocates pointed to partial progress in the industry and the availability of portable ADS-B In receivers that could help some pilots access location-display warnings.
Homendy said in testimony that American Airlines officials told her that retrofits would cost less than $50,000 per plane. The hearing also discussed that American has added the technology to its Airbus A321s over several years, equipping more than 300 of roughly 1,000 planes to date. Lawmakers noted that many aircraft older than a decade might not have either ADS-B Out or ADS-B In, while most newer planes already have at least ADS-B Out.
Tim Lilley, a pilot whose son Sam Lilley died in the crash as copilot of the American Airlines jet, said having both ADS-B locator systems would have saved lives. He said, “If those recommendations had been fully realized, this accident wouldn’t have happened,” and added: “I don’t know what value we put on the human life, but 67 lives would still be here today.”