Side-by-Side Comparison of Aviation Safety Bills
The following is a side-by-side comparison of the new House ALERT Act and the Senate-passed ROTOR Act, along with what recommendations from the NTSB final report each section deals with.
For detail, please look to bill text – the House bill is here and the Senate bill is here.
House Bill Section |
NTSB Rec. |
Senate Bill Section |
| Sec. 1. Names the bill Airspace Location and Enhanced Risk Transparency Act of 2026. | Sec. 1. Names the bill Rotorcraft Operations Transparency and Oversight Reform Act. | |
| Sec. 2. Defines terms. | Sec. 2. Defines terms. | |
| Sec. 101. Requires FAA to evalulate the feasibility of lowering the shutoff altitudes of ACAS-Xa. | A-26-34 | Sec. 4(h) requires FAA to develop an ACAS-X action plan. |
| Sec. 102. Requires a new rulemaking committee to determine whether to require ACAS-Xa on more types of aircraft. | A-26-29, 30, 32, 33, 35 | Sec. 4(h) requires FAA to develop an ACAS-X action plan. |
| Sec. 103. Requires FAA to finalize standards for ACAS-Xr for helicopters. | A-26-29, 30, 36, 57 | Sec. 4(h) requires FAA to develop an ACAS-X action plan. |
| Sec. 104. Requires a negotiated rulemaking, resulting in a final rule within 2 years, that requires ADS-B In for all turbine aicraft which are already required to have ADS-B Out, and all civil aircraft in Class B and C airspace, by 12/31/2031, including using portable devices to meet the goal. | A-26-31 | Sec. 4(a) requires ADS-B In on all aircraft in around the same timeframe. |
| Sec. 105. Requires joint FAA-NATCA review of ATC supervisors’ time-on-position practices. | A-26-8 | No provision |
| Sec. 106. Establishes a working group to review controller training regarding threat and error management, and visual separation procedures. | A-26-9, 17 | No specific provision, but sec. 4(g) requires new controller training for new separation standards. |
| Sec. 107. Requires development of a safety risk assessment tool to assist controllers in airspace risk identification, mitigation, and operational decision-making. | A-26-10 | No provision |
| Sec. 108. Requires the FAA to review the arrival rate at DCA and, possibly group landing slots into 30-minute increments to avoid exceeding safe capacity. | A-26-11, 13 | No provision |
| Sec. 109. Requires use of time-based flow management at Potomac TRACON. | A-26-12 | No provision |
| Sec. 110. Requires the FAA-NATCA team to review procedures that determine the classification level of ATC faciilties and possibly revise procedures for DCA and other airports with high volumes of mixed traffic. | A-26-15, 16 | Sec. 7(b) requires a safety review of DCA more generally. |
| Sec. 111. Requires FAA to establish a working group to review risks/benefits of requiring a common comms frequency when helicopter and local ATC positions are combined at DCA. | A-26-18 | No provision |
| Sec. 112. Requires a FAA feasibility study of new tech that can eliminate the blocking crosstalk effect on radio. | A-26-19 | No provision |
| Sec. 113. Requires a FAA task force to improve the conflict alert system to make alerts to controllers more salient and meaningful. | A-26-20, 21 | No provision |
| Sec. 114. Requires the FAA to review and revise ATO procedures for determining whether to order drug and alcohol testing following each postincident/postaccident event. | A-26-22, 23, 54 | No provision |
| Sec. 115. Requires the FAA to review and publicize all helicopter route charts annually. | A-26-24, 27 | No provision |
| Sec. 116. Requires the FAA to review, and if necessary revise, all helicopter routes near DCA to avoid conflict with fixed-wing routes. | A-26-25 | Sec. 7(b) requires a safety review of DCA more generally. |
| Sec. 117. Requires FAA to ensure that ceilings and floors are listed in all helicopter route charts and to add minimum vertical separation requirements to helicopter route chart criteria. | A-26-26, 27 | No provision |
| Sec. 118. Requires FAA to study whether to incorporate lateral location and published altitude of helicopter routes into all airport approach procedures. | A-26-28 | No provision |
| Sec. 119.Requres a FAA working group to define close proximity encounters and make aggregated information public. | A-26-37 | No provision |
| Sec. 120. Requires FAA to notify all parties involved in airborne loss of separation events and provide deidentified event data to the ASIAS program. | A-26-37, 38 | No provision |
| Sec. 121. Requries the DOT IG to audit the FAA ATO’s safety culture and SMS and report to Congress. | A-26-39, 55. 56 | No provision |
| Sec. 122. Requires FAA to review/revise rules for documentation of combining ATC position responsibilities. | A-26-40 | No provision |
| Sec. 123. Requires FAA to review miles-in-trail sepration standards to determine if they are large enough for operaitonal safety and, if not, update the standards. | A-26-14 | No specific provision, but sec. 4(g) does mandate a new separation rulemaking |
| Sec. 201-2655. Defines terms used in this new chapter 158 of title 10, U.S.C. (secs. 2655-2660). | Sec. 2. Defines terms. | |
| Sec. 201-2656. Requires a new DOT-DOD MOU on ADS-B and collision mitigation tech by 9/30/26 Requires ADS-B Out on all DoD helicopter flithts near DCA unless the a service Secretary personally certifies a waiver. | A-26-44, 51, 52, 53 | Corresponds to sec. 3. |
| Sec. 201-2657. Requires new rotary wing aviation safety management systems in each military department. | No provision | |
| Sec. 201-2658. Requires training on flights near congested airspace, possibly to incorporate historical flight datal | No provision | |
| Sec. 201-2659. Requires DoD to coordinate with FAA on new flight data monitoring programs. | Sec. 8 deals with FAA-DOD safety information sharing. | |
| Sec. 201-2660. Clafifies that DOT has no authority under title 10 and DoD has no authority under title 49. | No provision | |
| Sec. 202. Repeals old FAA-Army MOU and associated section in 2019 NDAA upon effective date of new MOU. | Sec. 9. Replaces the old FAA-Army MOU with new regulations and repeals associated section of 2019 NDAA. | |
| Sec. 203. Repeals 10 U.S.C. 2654. | Sec. 5. Repeals 10 U.S.C. 2654. |
