![[Credit: Wikimedia Commons]](https://planeandpilot.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2025/12/640px-2023_United_States_Capitol-1.jpg?width=640&height=360)
Senate leadership struck a deal Wednesday to pass a slightly modified version of the Rotorcraft Operations Transparency and Oversight Reform (ROTOR) Act through the chamber with unanimous consent, striking a controversial section from the recently passed fiscal year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that critics panned as harmful to airspace safety.
According to a Politico report, Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) worked out an agreement with fellow senators, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), to pass the bill through a fast-track mechanism after efforts to attach the ROTOR Act to the overall NDAA failed.
As a result, the ROTOR Act will clear the Senate as a stand-alone piece of legislation. Cruz, who has long championed the bill as an important step in aviation safety since its introduction over the summer, said he hopes the bill will be signed into law in early January.
Originally drafted as a response to the fatal crash over the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., between a commercial airliner and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter that killed 67 people, the ROTOR Act closes a loophole in federal code that has allowed military aircraft to operate without broadcasting their position through ADS-B Out transmission—a measure required for all civilian and commercial aircraft.
Federal code currently states that military aircraft may disable ADS-B Out broadcasts while operating “sensitive government missions,” a broad term criticized for having been used for measures beyond its intended purpose.
The ROTOR Act passed through the Senate Commerce Committee with unanimous support in October.
“This bill will be a fitting way to honor the lives of those lost nearly one year ago over the Potomac River,” Cruz said. “The goal of the victims’ families is to ensure no one else endures a similar avoidable, completely unnecessary, tragedy. The ROTOR Act will save lives.”
However, last week aviation industry leaders were sent into an uproar as the House of Representatives passed a version of the sprawling, 3,000-plus page NDAA with language protecting military aircraft from such requirements in Washington, D.C., airspace. Section 373 of the defense package would give military officers the power to waive ADS-B Out mandates, allowing training and other ancillary missions to continue to be flown without being broadcast.
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chair Jennifer Homendy decried the NDAA measure, saying it would wipe out the safety improvements that have been made around D.C. airspace since January’s crash.
“This provision is an unacceptable risk to the flying public, to commercial and military aircraft crews, and to residents in the region,” Homendy wrote in a letter to congressional leaders. “It’s also an unthinkable dismissal of our investigation and of 67 families who lost loved ones in a tragedy that was entirely preventable. I urge you to consider the consequences of this provision, and I stand ready to work with you to address these urgent safety concerns.”
The expected signing of the ROTOR Act into law will strip portions of section 373 from the defense bill.
In a court document filed Wednesday, attorneys admitted that the government is liable for the Potomac collision and that pilots of the Black Hawk helicopter “failed to maintain vigilance,” according to an ABC News report.
