Senate approves bill inspired by DC plane crash to ensure military aircraft will broadcast location

The Senate moved quickly Wednesday afternoon to close a loophole that could allow military aircraft to fly without broadcasting their locations just like an Army helicopter was doing last January before it collided with an airliner over Washington, D.C., killing 67 people.

Just hours after passing a massive defense bill that included the worrisome provisions about military flights, the Senate approved a bipartisan bill that will require all aircraft use ADS-B technology — or Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast technology — to broadcast their locations.

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz said that “tragedy could have been avoided” if the Army Black Hawk had been using its ADS-B system to broadcast its location before the crash, and this bill should save lives.

It is not clear exactly when the ROTOR act that Cruz and Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell and the rest of the Commerce Committee supports will be taken up by the House and whether changes will be made. But Cruz said that the White House supports the version that passed the Senate Wednesday and promised to help get it approved. Cruz said he is optimistic the bill could head to the president’s desk as soon as next month.

Republican leaders decided not to delay the defense bill by amending it to address the flight safety concerns because doing that would have sent the bill back to the House for another vote.