“The legislation addresses various issues tied to last year’s fatal Washington air disaster, including advanced location-tracking technology on aircraft. But the ROTOR Act has met stiff resistance from the chair of the House Transportation Committee.
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The Senate passed the bill, S. 2503, from Cruz and Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), via unanimous consent in December.
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Transportation Chair Sam Graves (R-Mo.) has objected to the bill, saying he wants big changes to it.
In a series of recent interviews, Graves has cited concerns over impacts to general aviation, the small-scale flights that range from recreational trips on single-engine planes to crop dusting.
On Tuesday, the top Democrat on the House transportation panel, Rep. Rick Larsen of Washington, said in an interview he was mulling two options: either adjusting the ROTOR Act or crafting new legislation after the National Transportation Safety Board last week issued 50 recommendations related to the catastrophe, which killed 67 people.
In a separate interview Tuesday, Graves said his committee will have a bipartisan response to the midair collision.
Victims’ families and the chair of the NTSB have backed the ROTOR Act.
One of the NTSB’s recommendations mirrors a key component of the Senate bill: a mandate of an advanced location-receiving technology — called Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast In, or ADS-B In — on planes and helicopters flying in busy airspace.
Graves, an avid pilot and longtime general aviation booster, doesn’t support the ROTOR Act’s ADS-B In requirement, as written.”