The head of the Federal Aviation Administration, Bryan Bedford, told Congress on Tuesday that he believes his agency had a “bad design” that resulted in the fatal aircraft collision near the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
The National Transportation Safety Board found multiple errors and shortcomings that led to the midair crash of a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines jetliner in January 2025, killing all 67 people aboard the two aircraft.
“The NTSB final report confirms that our airspace system was providing warning signals prior to the accident,” Mr. Bedford told the Senate Subcommittee on Aviation, Space, and Innovation. “The issue was not a lack of data; it was a failure to translate data into action. That’s a gap we are urgently closing.”
NTSB determined that radio instructions from the air traffic control tower to “pass behind” the jet were blocked because an Army crew member inadvertently pressed their microphone, preventing the helicopter pilots from receiving the command. Both aircraft were also on different radio frequencies, further restricting the situational awareness of the commercial pilots.
Mr. Bedford said the FAA will implement and evaluate all 35 of the recommendations from the NTSB. “Honestly, I think we’re going well beyond the intent of what the state safety recommendation was,” he said.
While the FAA has established an integrated safety management office, launched a modernization of the aging air traffic control system, added staffing at the DCA tower, and begun redesigning outdated airspace operations, Mr. Bedford said that isn’t enough.
“Simply replacing obsolete equipment and restoring staffing alone will not produce a world-class aviation system,” he said, citing a need to address the FAA’s “underlying data architecture limitations” while “implementing a common automation platform.”
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, Illinois Democrat, accused Mr. Bedford of lacking urgency to implement all the NTSB’s 35 recommendations, citing a “culture of complacency” at the FAA.
Of the 35 recommendations, 19 are categorized as in progress. Technically, nothing is considered complete until the NTSB evaluates it, Mr. Bedford said.
Congress is taking steps to mandate certain technology for aircraft.
The ROTOR Act increases requirements for aircraft tracking and communication — a cause of concern for investigators after the crash — using Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast technology, which broadcasts, known as “Out,” and receives, called “In,” information between aircraft and air traffic control.
Current FAA regulations allow aircraft performing a sensitive government mission — the Black Hawk helicopter was flying for a classified training mission — to be exempted from using ADS-B Out equipment. The proposed bill would not consider training flights as sensitive government missions.
The Airborne Collision Avoidance System X, the FAA’s next-generation flight safety architecture to prevent midair collisions and replace the older system, would likely be a decade-long implementation, Mr. Bedford said. However, ADS-B could be implemented within the next two years for less than $5,000 per aircraft.
The ROTOR Act, which has been advocated for by the committee and Mr. Bedford, has a sibling in the House: the ALERT Act. However, it does not mandate the use of ADS-B In on aircraft flying in mixed airspace, as recommended by the NTSB.
The bill passed the Senate with unanimous consent, but was killed in the House in February due to preference for the ALERT Act.
