Legislation that would strengthen the FAA safety management system passed through the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, lawmakers said Friday.
The legislation, the FAA SMS Compliance Review Act of 2026, led by U.S. Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Mark Warner (D-VA), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Amy Klobuchar (D-N), Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Peter Welch (D-VT), would direct the FAA to establish and independent review panel to make recommendations for an integrated and effective FAA safety management system to better manage and mitigate safety risks across the agency.
“The NTSB has found that the FAA’s weak oversight and failure to act on the safety data it had collected contributed to the tragic mid-air collision near DCA one year ago,” Cantwell, the committee’s ranking member said. “This bill will bring in outside safety experts to recommend how FAA can create an agency-wide Safety Management System that will identify and correct safety risks and prevent future incidents. The bill aligns with NTSB’s call to ensure that FAA’s SMS is effective, employee safety concerns are acted upon, and safety culture at FAA is strengthened.”
The legislation comes after the January 2025 mid-air collision between an Army Black Hawk helicopter and a regional commercial jet near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport that took the lives of 67 people. A review of the incident by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) found that the FAA failed to act appropriately in response to safety data pointing to more than 15,000 near misses between helicopters and commercial fixed wing aircraft near the airport during the three years leading up to the crash.
The NTSB’s findings has spurred scrutiny of the FAA’s SMS efficacy and whether individual SMS at FAA offices– including the Air Traffic Organization and the Aviation Safety Organization – are effective in identifying and correcting safety issues.
The senators said an expert review panel created by the legislation would examine the FAA’s agency-wide SMS, and would direct the panel to evaluate the efficacy of FAA employee voluntary safety reporting systems.
In his response to the Committee following his nomination hearing, FAA Administrator Bedford expressed support for Ranking Member Cantwell’s longstanding push to ensure a stronger, and more integrated FAA-wide SMS. Administrator Bedford has also expressed support for a stronger FAA SMS as part of the FAA’s Flight Plan 2026.