WASHINGTON — Jennifer Homendy, Chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, criticized the Federal Aviation Administration for ignoring the warning signs about the risk of passenger aircraft and helicopters sharing the same airspace before the 2025 midair crash at Reagan National Airport Thursday.
“Last year’s crash was not an isolated incident,” Homendy said. “It was the fatal result of years of unheeded warnings.”
She emphasized that the tragedy underscored that pilots should use advanced technology to broadcast and receive their aircrafts’ real-time location, instead of only relying on their vision to avoid aviation accidents.
“The NTSB has for years, long before this tragedy, and DCA’s been sounding the alarm about the safety risks of see and avoid,” said Homendy, referencing the abbreviation for the airport.
Homendy’s testimony before a Senate committee came after the Senate passed aviation safety legislation that needs House approval before it can become a law.
On Jan. 29, 2025, an American Airline’s passenger jet and a Black Hawk helicopter collided in midair and crashed in the Potomac River near Washington, D.C. The collision left no survivors, and 67 passengers died.
The National Transportation Safety Board cited multiple system failures in their final report, which was released last month, including the FAA’s failure to conduct safety evaluations of helicopter routes and human errors on behalf of DCA air traffic controllers.
“The FAA has had multiple opportunities to implement NTSB recommendations,” Homendy told the committee. “Recommendations that have been rejected, sidelined, or just plain ignored.”
In December, the Senate unanimously passed the Rotorcraft Operations Transparency and Oversight Reform Act (ROTOR ACT). The act, if passed by the House and signed by President Donald Trump, would require civil and military aircrafts to use Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) technology to effectively transmit their precise location data to others. The act also would mandate an audit of the Army’s aviation operations and their history of compliance with the Federal Aviation Administration.
“For the 18th time, the NTSB is urging aircrafts in busy airspace to have ADS-B on board,” said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-TX., chairman of the committee. “I hope my House colleagues don’t wait for another accident, and for the NTSB to come back and recommend ADS-B for the 19th time.”
According to Homendy, “the accident wouldn’t have happened” if the ROTOR Act had been enacted prior to the collision, and both aircrafts carried ADS-B technology.
Following the release of the NTSB’s findings and safety recommendations, the FAA issued a statement on their efforts to continue to protect flight crews and the travelling public.
“Since Secretary Duffy took office, he and the FAA have taken decisive steps to correct past failures, strengthen accountability, and modernize the NAS,” the FAA stated. In citing those steps, they referenced their actions to increase the number of authorized certified professional controllers and support staff specificals at Reagan National Airport.
During a press conference in Singapore on Feb. 2, FAA chief, Bryan Bedford, recognized his agency’s failures and committed to following the NTSB’s 50 recommendations.
“We don’t disagree with anything that the NTSB has concluded from their investigations,” Bedford said.
Among the victims were 14 figure skaters, coaches and their family members, who were returning from a national figure skating development camp in Wichita, Kansas.
At the 2026 Winter Olympics Tuesday, U.S. figure skater Maxim Naumov honored his parents who were aboard the American Airlines plane by holding up a picture of him and his family after receiving his scores in the free skate competition.