Why it Matters

More than a year after a midair collision between American Airlines Flight 5342 and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter killed 67 people near Reagan National Airport, Congress is still struggling to turn grief into law. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's markup today of the ALERT Act of 2026 — the Airspace Location and Enhanced Risk Transparency Act — is the latest attempt to close the legislative gap, coming on the heels of a failed floor vote on a competing bill just one month ago.

The Legislative Wreckage Before This Moment

The path to today's markup of H.R. 7613 runs directly through a February 24 floor vote that didn't go as planned. The House narrowly rejected the ROTOR Act, a competing bipartisan aviation safety bill, after the Pentagon withdrew its support. Families of Flight 5342 victims were reported to be "stunned" by the outcome. The National Transportation Safety Board added its own criticism, with Reuters reporting that the House bill did not fully address the agency's 50 safety recommendations.

That collapse set the stage for the ALERT Act, which committee Chair Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO) and Ranking Member Rep. Rick Larsen (D-WA) jointly advanced as the path forward. Graves, who also sponsors H.R. 7613, chairs the very committee marking it up today — a structural advantage that gives the bill significant institutional momentum.

What the Bill Does

According to its official text, the ALERT Act would require certain aircraft to be equipped with collision mitigation technology, improve helicopter route safety and separation standards around airports, update air traffic control processes and procedures, and address national airspace safety as it relates to Department of Defense activities. Today's session considers an Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute — meaning the committee is working from a substantially revised version of the original bill, a standard step before advancing legislation out of committee.

The bill's introduction in late February was followed almost immediately by a concrete regulatory move: on March 18, the Department of Transportation and the FAA announced a new safety measure suspending the use of visual separation between airplanes and helicopters near busy airports — a direct outgrowth of the yearlong review of the Flight 5342 crash.

Industry Has Been Lobbying for This

The aviation industry didn't wait for Congress to act. Lobbying disclosures show sustained pressure from a wide range of stakeholders over the past year, all focused on the core issues the ALERT Act addresses.

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association lobbied across multiple quarters on ADS-B equipment mandates for Class B airspace and the Safe Operations of Shared Airspace Act — spending $420,000 in the second quarter of 2025 alone. The General Aviation Manufacturers Association tracked the same legislative threads through four consecutive quarters, including explicit lobbying on the ROTOR Act and shared airspace safety. The Professional Aviation Safety Specialists, whose members work as FAA safety inspectors, lobbied on both the ROTOR Act and the Safe Operations of Shared Airspace Act through the Fourth Quarter of 2025.

On the drone side, Wing Aviation — Google's drone delivery subsidiary — spent $80,000 per quarter lobbying on drone remote identification, electronic conspicuity, and unmanned traffic management deconfliction, issues that sit at the center of the ALERT Act's airspace transparency mandate. Skydio, DroneUp, and Airspace Data — which focuses specifically on civilian-military airspace coordination — rounded out a broad coalition pressing for exactly the kind of reforms the bill proposes.

Where the Money Went

PAC contributions from lobbying organizations active on the ALERT Act's issues flowed heavily toward members with direct jurisdiction. Rep. Garret Graves (R-LA), who chairs the Aviation Subcommittee of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, received a combined $22,500 from five separate PACs — including AOPA, GAMA, PASS, Allegiant Air, and the National Agricultural Aviation Association — over the past two years. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee with aviation jurisdiction, received $16,000 across three PACs including AOPA, GAMA, and CTIA.

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