Press Releases

The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee today unanimously approved its portion of the Airspace Location and Enhanced Risk Transparency (ALERT) Act of 2026 (H.R. 7613), the bipartisan comprehensive legislative response to the various aviation safety issues raised by the tragic 2025 midair collision between American Airlines Flight 5342 and a UH-60 Army Black Hawk helicopter at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA).

The ALERT Act was introduced in the House by Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Sam Graves (R-MO), Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Ranking Member Rick Larsen (D-WA), Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-AL), and Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Adam Smith (D-WA).  Today, the Armed Services Committee also unanimously approved its individual portion of the ALERT Act pertaining to Department of War policies.

The legislation, approved by the T&I Committee today by a vote of 62 to 0, is an updated version of the bill that was first introduced on February 20, 2026, following the conclusion of the National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) full investigation of the accident.  The legislation is a comprehensive package of improvements that respond to the broad scope of safety issues raised by the NTSB’s investigation, and it includes a number of updates based on discussions with the NTSB and other aviation stakeholders since its introduction.

“The ALERT Act is a comprehensive package that addresses the probable cause and contributing factors of the tragic crash that occurred in our nation’s capital in 2025, and it addresses all 50 safety recommendations issued by the NTSB after their investigation,” said Chairman Graves. “I want to thank Ranking Member Larsen and all the Committee Members for their work on this bill. I also want to thank the aviation and safety stakeholders we worked with as we developed and continued to modify and update the bill after the bill’s introduction. Furthermore, I appreciate the NTSB for working with us to ensure the legislation adequately addresses all of the their recommendations that resulted from their thorough investigation of the accident. I look forward to passing the ALERT Act in the House, and then working with the Senate to complete a final bill that addresses the various issues that contributed to this tragic accident.”

“Throughout this process, my deepest condolences have remained with the families of the victims of the tragic DCA mid-air collision,” said Ranking Member Larsen. “After working with the NTSB, the committee members produced a bipartisan and comprehensive bill that will increase the safety of the flying public.  I hope to continue productive conversations with all key stakeholders as we advance a safety package to the President.”

The ALERT Act:

• Takes important steps to improve safety throughout the nation’s airspace for every user of the airspace and the flying public;
  
• Ensures the utilization of technology to enhance flight crew alerting and air traffic controller situational awareness;
  
• Requires ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast) In and a corresponding collision prevention technology to be equipped and operating on virtually all aircraft that are required to have ADS-B Out, by December 31, 2031;
  
• Requires commercial airliners to upgrade straight to ACAS (Airborne Collision Avoidance System) Xa)—the next generation ADS-B In enabled collision avoidance technology—instead of getting bogged down by interim equipage requirements and delays;
  
• Makes updates to helicopter route safety and separation requirements, which NTSB’s investigation determined to be the probable cause of the crash;
  
• Requires necessary updates to air traffic control training, processes, and procedures to promote safety;
  
• Seeks to objectively define a close proximity encounter and requires the FAA to establish a database to effectively monitor such encounters and other data for trends;
  
• Establishes a public dashboard to ensure transparency and accountability throughout the safety rulemaking processes required under the bill;
  
• Investigates shortcomings in both FAA safety culture and data sharing that contributed to the collision; and
  
• Tackles mismanagement within the FAA that contributed to the fatal collision.

More information about today’s markup is available here. More information about the ALERT Act is available here.