All aircraft flying near Ronald Reagan National Airport will now be required to relay their positions to air traffic controllers, the acting administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration informed a Senate subcommittee on Thursday.The policy, which took effect on Thursday, was put in location after it was revealed that innovation in an Army helicopter that hit a passenger jet near the airport in January was switched off at the time of the lethal crash.Known as the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast Out, the technology relays an airplane's position, elevation and speed, and it could have enabled air traffic controllers to better track the helicopter's motions. Military helicopters can switch off the technology throughout so-called continuity of government missions, which occur during nationwide emergencies and guarantee that the whereabouts of top government officials remain untracked.The policy change was divulged as the F.A.A. and military officials were pressed by senators

to discuss how the Army helicopter, which was on a training objective, could have hit the guest jet, which was can be found in to arrive on a greatly trafficked route.” The reality of the matter is, we have to do better, “Chris Rocheleau, the acting F.A.A. administrator, said on Thursday

.”We have to recognize patterns, we need to get smarter on how we use data and when we put corrective actions in location. We must execute them with diligence.” Mr. Rocheleau stated there would be some exemptions to the new policy, though those were not talked about during the hearing. He appeared before the Senate panel with Jennifer Homendy, the chairwoman of the National Transport Safety Board, and Brig. Gen. Matt Braman, the Army's director of air travel. For about two hours, they answered concerns about the ongoing investigation into the January crash, which killed 67 people.It was the first investigative hearing into the accident by the subcommittee, the aviation panel of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transport Committee. Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican who chairs the Commerce Committee, said that military and other operations had actually continued to disrupt traveler flights at Reagan Airport. He cited an example on March 1 when numerous industrial aircrafts landing at the airport reported notifies of neighboring aircraft, sometimes coupled with automated guidelines to take immediate action to avoid a crash.The warnings were apparently caused by the Secret Service and the Navy “poorly evaluating counter-drone innovation,”Mr. Cruz said, which triggered radio disturbance with a vital system that commercial planes utilize to prevent midair crashes.”Let me simply state this is deeply disturbing that simply a month after 67 individuals passed away while on technique to DCA that the Trick Service and Pentagon would unintentionally cause several flights to receive urgent cockpit alerts suggesting evasive action,” Mr. Cruz stated, utilizing the initials designating the airport, which remains in Virginia, throughout the Potomac River from downtown Washington.Senators Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican who chairs the air travel subcommittee, and Maria Cantwell, Democrat of Washington, questioned Mr. Rocheleau about why the F.A.A. had missed warning signs relating to the potential for accidents between military helicopters and industrial aircrafts at Reagan Airport.A preliminary report by the N.T.S.B. found that a helicopter and an industrial aircraft almost collided at least once a month near Reagan from 2011 to 2024, raising issues about how the F.A.A. had actually ignored such a hazard at one of the country's busiest airports.Ms. Homendy and Sean Duffy, the transport secretary, slammed the F.A.A. for not acknowledging the frequency of near-misses at the airport and attending to the issues.In reaction, Mr. Rocheleau acknowledged that the agency had actually missed out on essential signs.”I will continue to examine what I discussed before with regard to the hot spots,”Mr. Rocheleau stated,”working carefully with N.T.S.B. to learn what happened here and to make sure it never occurs once again.”Source