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Cruz-Cantwell bill proposes tougher safety requirements

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Defense bill allows transportation secretary to allow

waivers

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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 ( AAL ) 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."