24 House Democrats Urge FAA to Pause AI Air Traffic Tool at 3 Washington Airports
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Oct 15
24 House Democrats Urge FAA to Pause AI Air Traffic Tool at 3 Washington Airports
2 articles · Updated · Fox News · Oct 15
Summary
An Oct. 9 letter from 24 House Democrats and Sen. Chris Van Hollen asked the FAA to halt use of its AI-enabled SMART air traffic tool until the agency explains how it approved and evaluated the system.
The lawmakers said the Sept. 21 rollout at Reagan National, BWI and Dulles lacked transparency, and they questioned whether a required Safety Risk Management review was completed or any steps were waived to meet the launch date.
They also pressed the FAA to identify the AI models behind SMART and show how their accuracy was validated before deployment in a safety-critical system.
Washington-area testing drew added scrutiny because Reagan National was near the January midair collision between an American Airlines jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter that killed 67 people.
The group asked Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford to respond by Monday, Oct. 19, underscoring broader political pressure for tighter oversight of AI in critical infrastructure.