Aviation Safety Bill Inspired by Flight 5342 Fails in U.S. House: What KS Leaders Said

A bill intended to prevent fatal midair collisions like the one between a Wichita flight and a military helicopter last year failed in the U.S. House on Tuesday, falling one vote short of the two‑thirds majority needed to send it to the president.

The ROTOR Act, co-sponsored by Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran, passed the Senate last year via unanimous consent. The proposed legislation was Congress’s primary reply to the Jan. 29, 2025, collision above the Potomac River that killed 64 people aboard Flight 5342 from Wichita as well as three military personnel aboard an Army helicopter.

Victims from Kansas included Kiah Duggins, a Wichita State University graduate and civil rights attorney; Lindsey Fields, a mother and Butler Community College biology professor; Kansas City Chiefs super-fan and El Dorado IT professional Dustin Miller; 20-year-old engineering student Grace Maxwell; Kiowa couple Bob and Lori Schrock, who were flying to D.C. to visit their daughter in Philadelphia; and 30-year-old P.J. Diaz, a son and brother who loved to travel.

The National Transportation Safety Board concluded in its report that the collision was caused by a mix of preventable “systemic failures,” including but not limited to a failure to act on previous crash-prevention recommendations and the absence of collision avoidance technology.

“Such a system could have provided the crew of flight 5342 with the first alert regarding the helicopter 59 seconds before collision,” the report read.

The agency made 50 recommendations to a slew of federal agencies and the US Army. Many were included in the ROTOR ACT, which would have required all aircraft flying around busy airports to have key locator systems. It also would have required the Federal Aviation Administration to conduct a safety review of the flight routes at all large and midsize airports and limit where and when military aircraft can turn off advanced location broadcasting technology in proximity to airports.

The bill had support from the Defense Department until Monday, when the agency reversed course and said its passage “would create significant unresolved budgetary burdens and operational security risks affecting national defense activities.”

The bill failed Tuesday 264-133, one vote shy of the two-thirds needed for passage.

House records show Kansas Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids, as well as Republican Reps. Ron Estes and Derek Schmidt, voted in favor of the bill. Republican Rep. Tracey Mann was the only Kansan to vote against it. He could not be reached Tuesday to talk about his vote.

“It is imperative we in Congress work to ensure tragedies like this never happen again, and that our skies are the safest in the world,” Estes said in a press release published shortly after the vote failed. “The ROTOR Act is a step in the right direction.”

Estes said he would continue working in support of implementing safer aviation practices.

In Wichita, District 1 City Council member Joseph Shepard, who was close friends and served in Wichita State’s student government with Duggins, expressed disappointment about the bill’s failure on Facebook.

“In the words of Momma Duggins,” Shepard wrote, “‘The fight is not over.’”

He encouraged constituents to contact Mann and ask him to explain his no vote.

“Not passing the act to prevent another tragedy is irresponsible, negligent and a disservice to the 67 families impacted by this tragedy,” Shepard wrote. “Kansas experienced tragedy and loss. Please prevent another.”

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