Amid an ongoing string of near-misses between planes at airports—and multiple fatal airline collisions—federal lawmakers are seeking to enhance aviation safety throughout the United States.
A U.S. Senate hearing on Tuesday examined how Congress might be able to upgrade air travel safety using new technology in order to stop the troubling pattern of planes nearly colliding on airport runways.
The most recent near-miss incident happened in Boston on June 22 when two airline jets came within 300 feet of each other as one was taking off and the other was making its final landing approach, according to a CBS News report. Catastrophe was avoided at the last second when the pilot of the landing plane aborted the approach and executed a go-round, but the incident was still much too close for comfort.
Such incidents are “a warning call and a reminder that our aviation system is fragile, and that we must act – FAA, private sector, Congress – should act in all ways responsible before an accident occurs,” said U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan), chairman of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Aviation, Space, and Innovation.
The hearing comes about 18 months after the fatal mid-air collision in Washington, D.C., and three months after a regional jet struck an airport vehicle at New York LaGuardia, killing both of the plane’s pilots.
Amid the concerning trend, Congress has attempted to pass legislation to tighten safety loopholes. One proposed law is the ROTOR Act, which would require military aircraft to broadcast their location to civilian pilots and air traffic controllers using technology called ADS-B.
The ROTOR Act has failed to pass Congress, despite having bipartisan support. Additionally, experts at the NTSB have said that this technology is widely available and could have prevented the mid-air collision in Washington, D.C. if both aircraft would have been using it.
Expert witnesses in Tuesday’s hearing, including the president of Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), echoed the call to utilize ADS-B and other critical safety technology.
“ALPA is calling for urgent action with the full knowledge that the technologies that could have prevented these accidents exist and are readily available right now,” Capt. Jason Ambrosi, president of ALPA, said at the hearing.
Ambrosi’s testimony called for the approval of the ROTOR Act, to expand airport surface surveillance and runway lighting systems, and to accelerate air traffic control modernization efforts.
On that front, the FAA is examining how it could leverage AI to assist air traffic controllers amid an ongoing workforce shortage in airport towers nationwide.
“While these tools are not intended to replace the judgment of aviation personnel, they may offer new ways to identify emerging risks, improve situational awareness and increase the safety of our airspace system,” said Sen. Moran.
Sen. Moran also plans to introduce new air safety legislation, called the Runway SAFE-T Act, which will focus on how to improve training for drivers of airport vehicles and enhance technology to reduce runway incursions.
“Close calls should not simply be viewed as warnings,” Sen. Moran said. “They are critical opportunities to strengthen the systems, procedures and technologies that keep the flying public safe.”
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