US lawmakers urge cut in Washington-area military training flights after fatal collision

Ten U.S. House of Representatives Democratic lawmakers on Friday urged the Pentagon to reduce military training flights in the Washington, D.C., area after a January mid-air collision between an American Airlines regional jet and a U.S. Army helicopter killed 67 people. The lawmakers, in a letter, said they also want the Pentagon to require use of a safety system known as ADS-B that was not operating on the Army helicopter at the time of the collision near Reagan Washington National Airport. "To the maximum extent practicable, military training flights should be conducted outside the National Capital Region," Representative Don Beyer and the other Democrats wrote. Civilian airplanes must use ADS-B to broadcast their location, but it appears the military is routinely failing to use the safety system in training flights, lawmakers said. Last Friday, the FAA imposed permanent restrictions on non-essential helicopter operations around Reagan. The FAA also barred helicopters and passenger jets from flying near each other. The FAA's actions followed two urgent safety recommendations made by the National Transportation Safety Board after the collision. The FAA also prohibited use of two smaller runways at the airport when helicopters conducting urgent missions are operating nearby. "VIP travel can often be feasibly substituted for vehicular travel or flight paths that route further outside of the region, and other helicopter flights are simply not necessary ... within this oversaturated airspace," wrote the lawmakers that include Representatives Steny Hoyer, Jamie Raskin, Suhas Subramanyam, Eleanor Holmes Norton and Gerry Connolly.<br/>