NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!. House lawmakers are set to vote Tuesday on an aviation safety bill aimed at preventing another deadly midair collision near Washington, D.C.. The legislation, known as the ALERT Act, would require aircraft operating in busy or controlled airspace to use systems that help pilots track nearby planes and helicopters more precisely — a capability federal safety officials have long said could prevent catastrophic collisions.. The measure would also require new collision-prevention technology across much of the U.S. aircraft fleet, overhaul helicopter routes near major airports and require the Federal Aviation Administration to update air traffic control procedures and training.. The push for reform follows the Jan. 29, 2025, crash involving an American Airlines jet and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan National Airport that killed all 67 people aboard both aircraft. The disaster marked the deadliest U.S. plane crash in more than two decades.. FORMER AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: OUR AIR TRAFFIC SYSTEM IS BEING HELD TOGETHER WITH EBAY PARTS. Lawmakers revised the bill in recent weeks after federal safety officials criticized an earlier version. It is now headed to the House floor after unanimous approval in two key committees.. “The bipartisan ALERT Act is a comprehensive package that addresses the probable cause, contributing factors and responds to all 50 safety recommendations that were issued by the NTSB,” Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo., said during a March 26 House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee markup, per Roll Call. Graves and Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., co-sponsored the bill.. Graves said lawmakers “worked diligently with the NTSB to refine and improve the legislation” after earlier concerns that the bill did not go far enough.. AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER SHOULD HAVE WARNED PLANE OF ARMY HELICOPTER’S PATH AHEAD OF FATAL DC CRASH: FAA. Federal investigators said safety concernssafety concerns went unaddressed for years before the collision.. The National Transportation Safety Board has said longstanding safety concerns went unaddressed in the years leading up to the crash.. The agency has recommended expanded aircraft-tracking technology since at least 2008, warning that gaps in how planes and helicopters detect one another in crowded airspace posed a serious risk. Investigators said such systems could have prevented the collision if both aircraft had them installed and activated.. The collision exposed broader weaknesses in how military and civilian aircraft operate in shared airspace, especially near major airports with heavy traffic.. At the time of the crash, the Army helicopter was not broadcasting its location data, in line with military policies designed to limit visibility during some operations. But the flight was a routine training mission, not a sensitive operation, raising questions about whether those exemptions should apply more broadly.. The House bill seeks to address some of t
