The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) and the family of a pilot killed in last year’s midair collision in Washington, D.C., are calling on lawmakers to strengthen ADS-B requirements as Congress works out new aviation safety legislation.
ALPA president Jason Ambrosi said Monday that the organization wants to see a federal mandate for the use of ADS-B In technology across both civilian and military aircraft. Most aircraft are already required to use ADS-B Out, which continuously broadcasts position and altitude, but use of ADS-B In, which receives air traffic information, is optional.
ALPA has been particularly focused on standardizing ADS-B requirements for the military, which often flies without ADS-B Out or In activated. The U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter involved in last year’s collision was equipped with ADS-B Out but had it turned off.
“Integrated ADS-B In could have made the difference for the 67 lives lost in that tragedy,” Ambrosi said.
Late last year, the U.S. Senate passed the ROTOR Act, which would require most aircraft, both civilian and military, to integrate and use ADS-B In, with narrow exceptions on national security grounds. ALPA endorsed the legislation, as did NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy and many family members of those killed in the D.C. collision.
But the bill failed in the House, and in April the chamber approved its own aviation safety proposal, the ALERT Act, which its supporters said was based directly on National Transportation Safety Board recommendations in its final report on the accident. But the ALERT Act does not mandate ADS-B In, and critics argue that it largely maintains the status quo for military aircraft.
Ambrosi said ALPA’s goal is not to relitigate ROTOR versus ALERT but to ensure that the ADS-B In requirement is added to the final bill, however it takes shape.
Tim and Sheri Lilley, the father and stepmother of Sam Lilley, a PSA Airlines pilot killed in the crash, joined Ambrosi in backing the adoption of stronger ADS-B In language.
“We know that this was not just one failure,” Sheri Lilley said. “What we need to see instead is multilevel safety architecture.”
Supporters of the ALERT Act have said that ADS-B requirements for the military risk exposing aircraft movements to foreign adversaries.
