TOPEKA — Five of the six members of the Kansas congressional delegation voted for bipartisan aviation safety legislation inspired by the death of 67 people in the mid-air collision of a passenger jet that flew out of Wichita and a U.S. Army helicopter in congested airspace over Washington, D.C.
On Tuesday, the delegation’s holdout on the ROTOR Act was Republican U.S. Rep. Tracey Mann, who serves the 1st District stretching from the Colorado border to Lawrence in the east. His office didn’t respond to a request for comment on his vote against the bill incorporating safety recommendations emerging from the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation of the accident.
The bill was unanimously passed by the U.S. Senate in December, but fell one vote short in the House of the required two-thirds majority for passage.
“It is imperative we in Congress work to ensure tragedies like this never happen again and that our skies are the safest in the world,” said U.S. Rep. Ron Estes, a Republican from Wichita. “This tragedy has left our community shocked and I am heartbroken that several Kansans were among the victims. No family should ever have to endure such heartbreak.”
Estes said he was grateful for work of the NTSB and Senate on the bill, which featured a mandate aircraft be equipped with tracking technology that federal investigators said could have helped avoid the collision. Dozens of recommendations in NTSB’s final report should be considered as quickly as possible by Congress, he said.
On Jan. 29, 2025, American Airlines Flight 5342 left Wichita for Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia. It collided at an altitude of 300 feet with a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter about one-half mile from the runway.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids of the 3rd District in the Kansas City area said she was discouraged with failure to approve the Rotorcraft Operations Transparency and Oversight Reform, or ROTOR, bill. The House vote was 264-133 with 132 Republicans voting against the bill. The legislation’s momentum was undercut by the U.S. Department of Defense’s eleventh-hour withdrawal of support.
“This bill was an important first step in meaningful reforms for both the flying public and the victims and families of last year’s tragic collision,” Davids said. “We must take action to ensure that this kind of tragedy never happens again and to honor the memory of the lives lost because the victims and families deserve nothing less.”
Davids, a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said she would continue to strive for safety reform. Last week, she introduced the ALERT Act to build on provisions of the ROTOR legislation.
The Senate-drafted ROTOR bill was supported by U.S. Rep. Derek Schmidt, the 2nd District Republican, as well as U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall and U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, both Kansas Republicans.
Moran said result of the House vote was a disheartening setback in terms of delivering a federal response to the tragedy.
“My thoughts are with the families of the victims who turned their grief into advocacy by championing this legislation,” Moran said. “I remain committed to working to pass the ROTOR Act and making certain it is signed into law.”
The stalled legislation would require the Federal Aviation Administration to conduct reviews of flight routes at midsize and large airports. It would compel nearly all aircraft to install location tracking technology by the end of 2031 to improve ability of pilots to follow other aircraft in crowded airspace. In addition, it would restrict what location-identification equipment could be turned off by military pilots.
This story previously appeared in the Kansas Reflector.
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