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.<br/>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 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 An Army official confirmed that the report had been sent to the Armed Services Committee and added that it has been rescinded.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<br/>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."<br/>