The head of the National Transportation Safety Board said the House is using the results of her agency’s investigation into last year’s deadly midair crash near Washington, D.C., to move aviation-safety legislation that she says does not match what the NTSB recommended to prevent another tragedy.
Jennifer Homendy, the NTSB chairwoman, criticized the House’s proposed package during remarks Thursday, saying it is “misleading” for lawmakers to describe their bill as addressing the NTSB’s recommendations from the agency’s January report on the collision that killed 67 people on Jan. 29, 2025.
Homendy said her main concern and that of the families of those killed is whether all aircraft should be required to use locator systems that can help pilots know more precisely where other traffic is flying. She highlighted that Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast Out, or ADS-B Out, already is required around busy airports, but she said the missing piece is ADS-B In, which can receive location data about other aircraft and is not yet standard.
In her remarks, Homendy argued that the House bill would ask the Federal Aviation Administration to draft a rule requiring the “best locator technology” rather than just requiring ADS-B In. She also said the bill includes exemptions for business jets and small planes in parts of the airspace, and she criticized the measure as weak on other details, including when the military could turn off locator systems and what steps would be required to ensure the systems are working.
Homendy said she and others were “very explicit” about what she called the needed changes when the NTSB issued its recommendation after the Jan. 29 crash. She said, “We can have disagreements over policy all day. But when something is sold as these are the NTSB recommendations and that is not factually accurate, we have a problem with that. Because now you’re using the NTSB and you’re using people who lost loved ones in terrible tragedies,” and added, “You’re using their pain to move your agenda forward.”
Homendy also said the House appeared to “pick and choose” which parts of the NTSB’s recommendations were included in the bill, arguing that the agency’s recommendations are intended to prevent a future tragedy rather than meet only part of what the NTSB outlined. She said, “We were very explicit of what needed to occur,” and that “if you’re just going to give us half a loaf, it’s not going to do it. We’re not gonna save lives.”
The NTSB followed up Thursday with a formal letter to two key House committees, saying the agency cannot support the House bill at this time. In response, House leaders did not immediately respond to Homendy’s criticism, according to the report.
Republican Rep. Sam Graves and Democratic Rep. Rick Larsen, who have said they believe their bill—the ALERT measure they crafted—effectively addresses the 50 recommendations the NTSB made at the conclusion of the investigation, defended their approach and said they would work with families, the Senate and the aviation industry to develop what they described as the best solution as soon as possible. The committee was expected to markup the bill within the next few weeks, and House Speaker Mike Johnson said he is committed to getting the bill done.
Victims’ family members also took issue with the legislation. Doug Lane, who said he lost his wife and son in the crash, and other families said the House bill is “not really a serious attempt” to address the NTSB recommendations. Lane said the timing of the introduction of the bill—just days before a vote on the ROTOR Act that he said the Senate unanimously approved—seemed designed to “scuttle” the earlier measure and send the ADS-B In recommendation into a longer rulemaking process.
Matt Collins, who said he lost his younger brother Chris in the disaster, said the House bill must require ADS-B In for families to support it. Collins said, “As far as the ALERT act — the way it’s written now, I can’t endorse the way its written now. It needs to include ADS-B In,” and that it was “non-negotiable for us as family members, extremely non-negotiable.”
Homendy has said the NTSB identified missed warnings and other systemic weaknesses as factors behind the collision. She has also argued that if both the American Airlines jet and the Army Black Hawk helicopter had been equipped with ADS-B In and the systems had been turned on, the collision would have been prevented. The report said the Army’s policy at the time of the crash required its helicopters to fly without that system to conceal their locations, though the helicopter involved in this crash was on a training flight, not a sensitive mission.
This story has been updated to correct the date of the Potomac River midair collision. It was Jan. 29, 2025, not 2005.