Safety advocates say GOP effort won't mandate needed cockpit alarm

"The ROTOR Act failed in the House by a single vote. It had passed with bipartisan support in the Senate and backing from families of crash victims of the January 2025 collision involving an American Airlines jet. It also had the support of pilot and flight attendant unions, airlines, and the National Transportation Safety Board."

"At the heart of the debate was a proposed requirement to equip commercial aircraft with GPS-based "ADS-B In," which would display nearby air traffic on the flight deck screen - potentially closing the gap revealed by last year's AA crash with an Army helicopter near Ronald Reagan National Airport that killed 67 people."

"The bill split House Republicans, with some of the 132 opponents saying the additional monitoring systems would be expensive and were unproven; some are advocating for an alternate bill, the ALERT Act, that leaves air traffic controllers primarily responsible for collision alerts and allows some military flights to opt out of transmitting their positions."

The ROTOR Act, which would mandate GPS-based ADS-B In systems to display nearby aircraft on cockpit screens, failed to achieve the two-thirds majority needed for passage in the House. The bill had passed the Senate with bipartisan support and was backed by the NTSB, airlines, pilot and flight attendant unions, and families of victims from the January 2025 collision between an American Airlines jet and Army helicopter near Ronald Reagan National Airport that killed 67 people. House Republicans opposed the measure, citing concerns about cost and unproven technology. Opponents are instead advocating for the ALERT Act, which maintains air traffic controller responsibility for collision alerts and allows military flights to opt out of position transmission. Advocates of the ROTOR Act plan to oppose the alternative proposal.

Read at Business Insider