Rep. Subramanyam Delivers Remarks with Families of Flight 5342 on Aviation Safety Legislation

September 15, 2026 Press Release WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Representative Suhas Subramanyam (VA-10) delivered remarks at a press conference with the families of Flight 5342 on aviation safety. On January 29, 2025, American Airlines Flight 5342 collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter while approaching DCA. 67 people died in the crash, including several of Rep. Subramanyam’s constituents. In his remarks, Rep. Subramanyam called on Congress to pass comprehensive aviation safety legislation. Below is a transcript of Rep. Subramanyam’s remarks, which can also be found here : “I just wanted to take a moment to thank the families who are here today. We have gotten so far, and we're not all the way there yet, but we've gotten so far because of you and it's your bravery and your willingness to take a horrible, horrible tragedy and turn it into an opportunity to save lives in the future that is inspiring to so many of us in Congress and around the country, and so thank you for working tirelessly to try to pass common sense aviation safety legislation to fix what I believe is a glaring hole in our laws today. And thank you for being here and for being here again and again and again. Your persistence is being noticed, and we will continue to persist with you. But even though it's been five months since the House passed the ALERT Act, and even though we've have the NTSB's final report on the causes of the collision, and even though near miss collisions keep occurring both in DCA and across the country, Congress has still failed to pass these critical safety measures into law. We have the final NTSB report. We know what the safety measures need to be, and they need to be implemented. We have the opportunity to enact real change. So now is the time for leaders in Congress to come together and pass comprehensive aviation safety legislation. I associate my remarks with everything that was just said. We need the best of both bills. We need to make sure it gets onto the floor of the House for a vote. We need to make sure it passes and gets signed into law by the end of the year. We cannot wait until a future Congress. We've been told over and over again that this will get done, that this is the best measure, but the time to wait is over. The time to act is now. So thank you for your persistence. Thank you for everything you've done. Thank you to our Senate members and thank you to our House members who are here today. We will continue to fight with you. Thank you.” Rep. Subramanyam led a bipartisan investigation into the Army’s aviation practices following the crash, called for a pause on Black Hawk training flights in DCA airspace, and is a co-sponsor of both the ALERT Act and the ROTOR Act. ###