WASHINGTON, Dec 10 (Reuters) – A bipartisan group of key senators on Wednesday sharply criticized provisions on military helicopter safety in an annual defense bill released this week, arguing it amounts to a loophole that would make U.S. skies less safe.
Senate Commerce Committee chair Ted Cruz, a Republican, along with the top Democrat on the panel, Maria Cantwell, and the top senators on an aviation subcommittee, said in a joint statement the provision “protects the status quo, allowing military aircraft to keep flying in DC airspace under different rules and with outdated transmission requirements… We must act decisively to prevent future tragedies.”
The senators had proposed legislation after a January 29 collision between an American Airlines regional jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter that killed 67 people.
(Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Chris Reese)
