Editorial: House to Air Travelers: Drop Dead
By • March 10, 2026 0 279
The House of Representatives voted down the Senate-passed ROTOR Act (H.R. 6222) on Feb. 24, failing to reach the necessary two-thirds majority (264-133). The bill sought to mandate improved cockpit collision-avoidance technology following the Jan. 29, 2025, midair collision between an American Airlines regional jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River, in which 67 lives were lost.
The primary goal of the Rotorcraft Operations Transparency and Oversight Reform Act was to prevent midair collisions by requiring the use of advanced tracking technology — known as Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast In or ADS-B In — for nearly all aircraft in busy civilian airspace. One day before the vote, the Pentagon withdrew its support, citing “operational security risks” and budgetary concerns.
Family members of some of the crash victims were in the House gallery during the vote. Devastated, they called the late-hour opposition “misleading” and vowed to continue pushing for the bill, according to WJLA.
House leaders pivoted to a different bill, the ALERT Act, which they claimed was more comprehensive, but which critics and National Transportation Safety Board Jennifer Homendy argued was weaker and contained too many military exemptions, WJLA reported.
Homendy said of the vote and the proposed ALERT Act: “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. You’re using their pain to move your agenda forward.
“We were very explicit of what needed to occur,” Homendy said. “When we issue a recommendation, those recommendations are aimed at preventing a tragedy from happening again. And 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 Georgetowner agrees. New legislation must be introduced — working with all sides — that ensures a tragedy like Jan. 29 never happens again.
