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Floor Speech
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Mr. MORAN. Mr. President, the deadly collision that occurred here in our Nation's Capital between American Airlines Flight 5342 from Wichita, KS, and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter on January 29, 2025, forever changed how we look at and think about air travel.
There were numerous circumstances that led to this horrific incident, and the NTSB's--the National Transportation Safety Board--critical investigation into this collision is continuing even today.
While the NTSB's final recommendations have not yet been released, the Chair of the NTSB, Jennifer Homendy, took an unusual step in publicly stating that the current version of NDAA--the National Defense Authorization Act--does not adequately address the safety concerns surrounding the mixed airspace around DCA.
She even went on to say that the legislation--NDAA--``reverses safety changes made after the mid-air collision; after the NTSB issued urgent safety recommendations; and after Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy rightfully implemented NTSB's urgent safety recommendations.''
Based on the data and recommendations we have received so far from NTSB, we know that, one, there should have been limitations to rotary travel in high-traffic areas of commercial air travel; two, all aircraft in this space should be using position broadcast technology, with nearly no exceptions; and three, the users of this congested airspace should be communicating problems to each other, like the 15,000 near misses that occurred around DCA in a 3-year period between commercial planes and rotary aircraft--15,000 near misses in a 3-year period of time.
The current NDAA text includes a provision which misses the mark on two of these must-have provisions; therefore, I will insist and be working with my colleagues to amend the fiscal year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act or to otherwise pass legislation, perhaps in the appropriations process--I am a member of that committee--to make sure that NDAA language is at least, as a minimum, abiding by the safety standards that were set in place after the crash of January 29.
Our aviation system is fragile. I chair the Commerce Subcommittee on Aviation and Space. We have seen this in testimony time and time again. There is fragility in the safety of our air system.
Over the last year, Congress has passed significant legislation to invest in the future safety of our airspace and introduced legislation to make our airspace safer, including the ROTOR Act. Now is not the time to step back from these efforts.
I am grateful for the hard work of NTSB Chair Homendy and her team, and I look forward to receiving their final recommendations when that time arises.
I also want to say thank you to the families of the victims of Flight 5342, who have continued to be vocal advocates for the safety of our airspace in honor of the loved ones they lost.
It is important that we not take a step back but take a step forward, and I will work in every way that I can with my colleagues to see that we accomplish that before the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act.
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