In committee
ALERT Act
This bill requires commercial airliners, civilian helicopters, and private planes to install modernized collision-prevention technology that provides audible and visual traffic alerts by the end of 2031. It permanently bans the helicopter corridor involved in a fatal 2025 crash near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and requires the FAA to redesign flight paths so helicopters and passenger jets are physically separated. The legislation also caps shift lengths for air traffic control supervisors, orders new training on visual separation, requires immediate post-accident drug and alcohol testing, and obligates military helicopters to actively transmit their location when operating in shared civilian airspace.
People affected—The text references the 67 victims of the January 29, 2025 collision, but does not state the total number of pilots, air traffic controllers, aircraft owners, or passengers directly affected by the regulatory mandates.
Fiscal magnitude—The bill does not contain specific appropriations, authorizations of appropriations, or fee amounts. Implementation costs will be absorbed through existing agency budgets and private/commercial operator compliance expenditures, but these are not quantified in the text.
Reach70provisional · pending reviewrigor: heuristic llm
What this bill touches.
Collective bargaining+25Workplace standards+30Security vs. privacy+30Ethics & oversight+52Regulation (cross-sector)+55
Who it helps · who it burdens.
Who it helps
- civilian aircraft owners and operatorsProtects aircraft owners and operators by prohibiting government agencies and private entities from using ADS-B tracking data to collect revenue without consent, and broadens limits on government use of tracking data in enforcement actions (Sec. 105).
- families of aviation crash victimsMandates that the FAA provide families of the January 29, 2025 midair collision victims with biannual briefings on the progress of collision-avoidance rulemakings (Sec. 106(b)).
- air traffic controllers at high-density facilitiesAuthorizes the FAA and the air traffic controllers union to adjust facility pay-level formulas to increase compensation based on airspace density and complex mixed aircraft traffic (Sec. 113).
- military aviation safety personnelGuarantees that service members assigned to manned rotary wing aviation safety management duties do not lose flight qualifications, flight hours, or career advancement opportunities (Sec. 201 / 10 U.S.C. 2658(b)).
Who it burdens
- commercial airlines and charter operatorsRequires commercial airlines, cargo carriers, and charter operators to equip their aircraft with advanced collision avoidance systems (ACAS Xa) by December 31, 2031, and subjects operators at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport to potential schedule restrictions into 30-minute arrival blocks (Sec. 102, Sec. 111).
- commercial and private helicopter operatorsRequires operators of non-military helicopters and powered-lift aircraft operating in Class B airspace to install ACAS Xr or equivalent collision prevention equipment by December 31, 2031 (Sec. 103).
- general aviation aircraft owners and operatorsRequires civil aircraft operating in controlled airspace to equip and operate collision prevention technology featuring audible and visual alerts no later than December 31, 2031 (Sec. 104).
- air traffic controllers and supervisorsSubjects controllers and supervisors to shift time-on-position caps, mandates initial and recurrent scenario-based training on threat management and visual separation, and establishes mandatory immediate on-site post-accident drug and alcohol testing (Sec. 107, Sec. 108, Sec. 109, Sec. 117).
- military aviation units and flight crewsRequires military helicopters in the National Capital Region to broadcast ADS-B Out signals, mandates non-combat military aircraft equip with traffic displays within 180 days and collision prevention systems by 2031, mandates 90-day transponder checks, and requires new training on civil runway traffic flows (Sec. 201).
Who opposes it
- helicopter operators using Washington, D.C. airspacePermanently closes and prohibits all flight operations along the segment of Helicopter Route 4 between Hains Point and the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge in the Washington, D.C. area (Sec. 127).