ALERT Act

Controllers would get new hands-on training with an instructor. One course covers spotting threats and catching mistakes early. A second covers keeping planes apart by sight. The FAA must build both with the controllers' union.

After a crash, a supervisor on site would pick who gets a drug or alcohol test. No wait for an investigation or a sign-off. Each year the FAA must check that every tower can start alcohol tests in two hours. Drug tests get four.

Each armed service would set up a helicopter safety program by March 1, 2027. Troops assigned to run it must still be able to keep their flight hours, schooling, and path to promotion.

Tower supervisors would get a cap on how long they stay at one position. Reagan National comes first. Other towers with both helicopters and planes follow. The crash report blamed the tower's lapse partly on two jobs merged into one.

Today only the FAA may not open a case on a person from flight-tracking data alone. That limit would cover state, local, Tribal, and other federal officials too. Criminal cases are left out.

The FAA would have to accept tablets and portable receivers that show nearby traffic. They must give the same level of safety as a built-in system. That keeps costs down for small operators and private owners.

Airlines, charter and air ambulance firms, and private plane owners would all have to buy and fit traffic-alert gear. The FAA writes the rules, with a final date no later than December 31, 2031. It can extend that date by up to two years if it tells Congress why.

The Transportation Department would post a page for each of the three equipment rules. It would show the committee roster, draft rules, comment windows, and the final rule. If the FAA misses a deadline, it must brief Congress in person within four weeks.

The FAA would brief both Congress and the families of the 67 people killed on January 29, 2025. The briefings run every six months until all three equipment rules are final.

A working group would define a close proximity encounter and decide what gets released. The FAA would then publish combined counts of those events with dates and places. Pilots and crews involved in one would also be told directly.

The department's watchdog would ask why the FAA missed the risk near Reagan National. It must also ask whether staff fear payback for reporting problems. A report to Congress is due within a year.

The Army would send Congress its own report on the January 29, 2025 crash. Only flight crew privacy may be blacked out. The Army's watchdog would then judge whether the fixes go far enough.

The Pentagon would count the special missions flown each month with tracking turned off near big airports. Those counts go to Congress. The President would also name each year any officials whose travel counts as a special mission.

Airports and vendors now use position broadcasts to identify planes and bill them for landing. The bill would bar anyone from doing that without the owner's consent. It sits inside a bill about preventing midair collisions.