US Army turns over helicopter safety memo to Congress

The U.S. Army has turned over to the Senate a 2024 August memo detailing why it routinely failed to use a safety system known as ADS-B on helicopter flights around Reagan Washington National Airport, Senator Ted Cruz said Thursday.

Cruz, who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, had threatened to subpoena the memo, but the army turned it over to the Senate Armed Services Committee, which then gave it to the Commerce Committee, he told Reuters. Cruz said the committee is reviewing the memo.

An Army Black Hawk helicopter did not have the system operating during a routine training mission when it collided with an American Airlines AAL regional jet on January 29 near the airport, killing 67 people. An Army official confirmed that the report had been sent to the Armed Services Committee and added that it has been rescinded.

Reuters reviewed a copy of the three-page memo that gives guidance to commanders on when to operates aircraft with ADS-B intentionally turned off.

The Army had refused to turn over the memo after a request from Cruz, a Republican, and Senator Maria Cantwell, the top Democrat.

"It begs the question, what doesn't the army want Congress

and the American people to know about why it was flying

partially blind?" Cruz said last week.

ADS-B, or automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast, is an

advanced surveillance technology that transmits an aircraft's

location.

Cruz said if civilians were to die in another collision

between a passenger jet and a Black Hawk helicopter that was not

using the safety system "those deaths will be on the army's

hands."

Civilian airplanes are required to use ADS-B, but the

Federal Aviation Administration in 2019 gave the military an

exemption in rare circumstances. Senators say the military has

rarely if ever used ADS-B in Washington training flights.

U.S. airline group Airlines for America previously called for military aircraft to be required to use ADS-B near large airports to broadcast their position to avoid collisions.

The FAA said it now requiring ADS-B use near Reagan National by government helicopters except in cases such as "active national security missions."