NBAA Welcomes ALERT Act’s Timely and Thoughtful Approach to Strengthening Aviation Safety

Contact: Dan Hubbard, 202-431-5970, [email protected]

Washington, DC, Feb. 20, 2026 - The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) welcomed comprehensive bipartisan legislation from leaders in the House of Representatives to increase aviation safety by effectively addressing the many key lessons from the tragic January 2025 midair collision near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) to real-world operations in the National Airspace System (NAS).

House Transportation & Infrastructure and Armed Services committee leaders today introduced the Airspace Location and Enhanced Risk Transparency (ALERT) Act, which uniquely seeks to implement all of the National Transportation Safety Board's (NTSB's) recommendations following the agency's investigation into the DCA crash.

The bill - from T&I Committee Chair Sam Graves (R-6-MO), Ranking Member Rick Larsen (D-2-WA), along with Armed Services Chair Mike Rogers (R-3-AL) and ranking member Adam Smith (D-9-WA) - provides a comprehensive set of changes and encourages use of the latest technologies to improve U.S. aviation safety.

"Safety is business aviation's highest priority, first and always," said NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen. "We commend Committee Chairman Graves, Chairman Rogers, and Ranking Members Larsen and Smith, for joining to introduce this landmark legislation to meaningfully strengthen safety, while providing a path for adoption across the wide diversity of aircraft in the aviation fleet."

In a Feb. 20 letter to the House committee leaders, Bolen said the ALERT Act stands as "an important way to honor the lives of those tragically lost in the DCA collision."

The legislation aims to improve situational awareness in today's operations, while advancing the development and certification of future safety systems. It would require civil fixed-wing and rotorcraft to be equipped with collision mitigation, avoidance and alerting technologies.

In addition, the measure would enhance air traffic control training and procedures, lower the risk profile in mixed-use environments, address deficiencies in the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA's) safety culture, improve coordination among stakeholders and implement strategically targeted operational safety procedures. The bill specifically focuses on enhancing the safety of the DCA airspace, one of the nation's busiest, most congested locations.

"We look forward to working with House leaders to support swift passage of the ALERT Act so that the bill's critical safety improvements can be implemented as soon as possible," Bolen concluded.

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Founded in 1947 and based in Washington, DC, the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) is the leading organization for companies that rely on general aviation aircraft to help make their businesses more efficient, productive and successful. The association represents more than 10,000 company and professional members and provides more than 100 products and services to the business aviation community, including the NBAA Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (NBAA-BACE), the world's largest civil aviation trade show. Learn more about NBAA at nbaa.org.

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