On Tuesday May 19^th 2026, FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford appeared before the Senate Commerce Committee to provide an update on the FAA’s implementation of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommendations following the fatal crash at DCA between a commercial flight and a military helicopter in January 2025. During the hearing, Bedford said the FAA is making progress on 19 out of 35 of the recommendations provided by NTSB, including removing reliance on visual line of sight separations in complex airspaces and increasing air traffic controller (ATC) staff capacity. Bedford also discussed work to improve data sharing within the FAA and the utilization of a new system to proactively manage airspace demand. Bedford spoke in support of pushing for the adoption of readily available technologies, such as ADSB-In through electronic flight bags, to quickly improve information access rather than waiting for lengthy rulemaking and infrastructure build out processes.

Bedford emphasized the role of Congress in the augmentation of airspace safety through continued funding for Air Traffic Control modernization and potential legislation around ADSB-In requirements. The members agreed about the importance of the FAA’s existing efforts, but some called for enhanced speed and transparency from the agency in addressing the recommendations.

Controller Staffing and Capacity

In his opening statement, Secretary Bedford emphasized the importance of controller staffing in ensuring a safe airspace. According to Bedford, there has been a controller hiring surge with 2,000 new qualified candidates brought on this past year and plans to bring on an additional 4500 in the next two years to the Air Traffic Controller Academy. Additionally, the FAA has expanded university training partnerships from three to 11 schools. Bedford emphasized that reducing staff burden is not just about increasing headcount but also about proper management of demand. The FAA is working to move towards strategic balancing of demand and capacity in a forward looking way to deconflict flights before they leave the ground rather than dealing with demand on a day-to-day basis. In addition to strategic management, he also highlighted the importance of common automation to expand staff capacity.

Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) said that at the time of the crash DCA was 16% below its target staffing rate, and Senator Duckworth raised concerns with DCA still operating with only two controllers at certain points in the day. Bedford said that with four controllers in training, DCA is now fully staffed.

Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) also raised concerns that staffing levels remain dangerously low and overtime continues for staffers. She brought up the FAA’s new workforce plan, reducing previous targets for air traffic controller hiring by 2,070 positions. She said use of artificial intelligence cannot replace controllers, citing statements made by Secretary Duffy and the air traffic controller union. Administrator Bedford said that through the 2024 reauthorization, the Transportation Research Board was directed to conduct a workforce plan to alleviate conflict between the FAA and union projections for workforce needs. The union was consulted throughout the study that arrived at the lower workforce target. Administrator Bedford emphasized that even with the surge in controller hiring the FAA is still struggling to meet needed controller levels and that technology is needed to reduce strain on workers and better manage demand.

Administrator Bedford and Senator Ted Budd (R-NC) spoke in support of the SMART System to utilize artificial intelligence to alleviate controller stress. The system is intended to better balance flights within hourly limitations to prevent peaks over the course of each hour. Bedford also added that during the government shutdown, the FAA saw higher rates of controllers calling in sick and decided to reduce traffic capacity to ensure safety with a smaller workforce.

Visual Line of Sight Separation and ADSB-In Requirements

To prevent future collisions, the NTSB issues a number of recommendations for infrastructure and procedural changes to increase pilot awareness. Following the crash at DCA, the FAA closed helicopter routes at DCA that were too complex. Across Class B and C airports, the FAA suspended use of visual line of sight separations between helicopters and planes and instead required radar-based separation in complex airspaces. Bedford said there are 22,000 routes that need to be reviewed every three years, so the agency first prioritized eliminating visual separation procedures for complex air spaces.

Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS) inquired about a near miss that occurred in California following the removal of visual separation procedures. Bedford had not yet received a conclusion on the cause of the near miss but emphasized that controllers received a week of training on the new separation standards and will continue to receive support if needed.

Senator Budd said Airborne Collision Avoidance System X (ACAS X) was identified by the NTSB to prevent future collisions and asked how the FAA is working to accelerate implementation of this system. Bedford said FAA has been working on ACAS X for the past decade but failed to issue a demand signal to the commercial market to voluntarily ACAS X. Instead, the market moved from TCAS (Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System) I to TCAS II. He spoke in support of the advanced algorithms of ACASX but said mandating ACAS X will be a decade long process with infrastructure build out and rulemaking timelines.

Bedford advocated for the adoption of off-the-shelf technologies such as ADSB-In to quickly enhance pilot information while the ACAS X process plays out. Bedford said ADSB-In provides pilots with much more updated information than radar alone.

Senator Budd emphasized that FAA has required ADSB-Out since 2020 and asked about the potential effectiveness of requiring ADSB-In. Bedford said that an integrated flight deck option of ADSB-In could take a decade to implement due to rulemaking and infrastructure. Instead, Bedford spoke in support of integration of ADSB-In through the electronic flight bag. Bedford said the industry is likely to be in support of this as a rulemaking process occurs.

In alignment with his statements on adopting ACASX, Bedford and Senator Andy Kim (D-NJ) agreed that rulemaking can still occur while concurrently pushing for readily available solutions. Senator Moran asked if the agency could utilize emergency authorities for a more expedited ADSB rulemaking. Bedford said he has looked into this but that it currently is not a plausible avenue.

Senator Tim Sheehy (R-MT) raised concerns about ADSB being used as a fee collecting device and incentivizing pilots to turn it off. Bedford agreed with this sentiment and said ADSB technologies should be used for safety enhancements.

Infrastructure

Administrator Bedford emphasized the importance of infrastructure investments in the air traffic control system to move from an analog to digital national air system and enhance safety. He also discussed the need to address underlying data limitations and data fragmentation. Bedford said some of the NTSB’s recommendations cannot be addressed until infrastructure improvements occur. For example, anti-blocking technology cannot be implemented on copper wire. He said the software and infrastructure to address this recommendation have been procured and that there will be a three-year deployment timeline.

FAA Culture and Reorganization

Bedford said that the NTSB findings highlighted a failure by the FAA to translate data into action and emphasized the role of FAA reorganization in reducing silos and closing information gaps. Senator Cantwell raised concerns about retaliation against controller whistleblowers, and Bedford agreed, saying improvements in the FAA’s culture are ongoing. Senator Moran raised concerns about getting issues from controllers up the chain of command at FAA, and Bedford said that all levels of the department have access to him and his support.

Senator Duckworth raised concerns about a lack of communication between the FAA and the Department of Defense. Bedford said that while there have been coordination issues over the past year, the agencies have improved through relations and are renegotiating their Memorandum of Understanding.

Senator Duckworth also raised concerns about the speed at which the FAA is responding to the recommendations and criticized Administrator Bedford for not meeting sooner with the NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy. Bedford said the FAA agrees with and is working to fully implement the 35 recommendations but emphasized that it is up to NTSB to determine if the agency has fully complied. According to Bedford, 19 of the 35 recommendations are in progress and some will be completed in the next two years. He added that the FAA is waiting to see how the ROTOR and ALERT legislation moves through Congress before implementing some of the technology-based recommendations.