The ALERT Act Is Not Enough

ALPA Urges Congress to Adopt the ROTOR Act's Provisions Before Bill Becomes Law

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Capt. Jason Ambrosi, president of the Air Line Pilots Association, Int'l (ALPA), issued the following statement today after the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Airspace Location and Enhanced Risk Transparency Act of 2026 (ALERT Act). The aviation safety legislation in response to the tragic accident involving PSA Airlines Flight 5342 now heads to conference, where ALPA is calling for the Senate ROTOR Act provisions requiring integrated Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast-In (ADS-B In) for all airline aircraft be included.

"While we appreciate all the work on the ALERT Act, this legislation does not implement a comprehensive traffic awareness, traffic alerting and collision avoidance system that expands pilots’ situational awareness and provides earlier traffic alerting, which is enabled by a full, integrated ADS-B In suite providing expanded aural and visual alerts in the air and on the airport surface. The horrific events and 67 lives lost at DCA on January 29, 2025, and recent mid-air close calls involving commercial airliners make it clear that now is the time for Congress to enact the strongest possible pro-safety legislation to protect our nation's airspace.

"ADS-B In is specifically designed to improve pilots' situational awareness and assist in preventing mid-air collisions. ADS-B In is not novel or untested technology. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has recommended it for nearly two decades. Boeing and Airbus offer ADS-B In capabilities on certain newly manufactured aircraft.

"The ROTOR Act includes a mandate to integrate ADS-B In into the flight deck to increase situational awareness of the location of other aircraft and provide traffic advisories indications while airborne and on the airport surface, but the ALERT Act pivots to an update of today’s collision avoidance technology that is not yet commercialized, cannot operate on the airport surface, and is inhibited at low altitudes. The ALERT also fails to require the FAA to publish a final rule that mandates operational use by December 31, 2031.  This technology, ACAS-Xa, which like TCAS, would not have given the pilots of PSA 5342 a significantly increased amount of additional warning time or as precise of situational awareness to assist the pilots in avoiding the collision.

"We owe it to 67 families to get this right.”

Founded in 1931, ALPA is the largest airline pilot union in the world and represents more than 80,000 pilots at 42 U.S. and Canadian airlines. Visit ALPA.org or follow us on X @ALPAPilots.

CONTACT: ALPA Media, 703-481-4440 or Media@alpa.org