On January 29, 2025, my brother Dustin Miller was killed in a mid-air collision between American Airlines Flight 5342 and a U.S. Army helicopter in Washington, DC. This was not some unavoidable tragedy or rare accident. It was the result of a known failure in our aviation system, one that allows certain aircraft to operate in shared airspace without broadcasting their position. In simple terms, it means there are aircraft flying that other aircraft cannot see.
These are the skies you trust every time you board a flight out of LAX, SFO, San Diego, Seattle, or Phoenix. They are the same skies your children fly through, the same skies your partner travels across for work. I don’t think people realize that the aircraft that fly overhead are not required to have and use technology that allows them to see each other’s location in real time. This technology exists, its called Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast — or ADS-B— in and out. The use of this technology would have prevented the death of my brother and 66 other beautiful souls.
As somebody who lives in California, I can see that this doesn’t get discussed as much as it should in the news here. Perhaps that is because people may not feel connected to the loss we have had. Because it didn’t happen here.
I understand how easy it is to watch something tragic on the news: You feel terrible for the families involved, and then move on. Grateful it didn’t involve your loved ones. I used to do the same thing. Until one day, I was the one watching it unfold and found out my brother was on that plane. The news moved on quickly, but for us families of the victims, this tragedy never ends. We are left replaying that moment over and over, asking how something so preventable was allowed to happen?
Here is the reality, this is not a regional issue it is happening in our own airspace right now. In Los Angeles, in San Diego, in Phoenix, and across the West Coast, there are aircraft flying that are not fully visible to each other — yet they share the same sky.
The West Coast has some of the busiest and most complex airspace in the country. Commercial planes are taking off constantly, helicopters fly across cities for news and medical transport, military aircraft fly training missions and rescue missions along the coast and throughout the Soutwest, and private planes fly and travel through all of it. When you add in the fact that some of these aircraft are not required to be visible to the others, it stops being a technical issue and becomes a reality that you are not safe.
The most frustrating part is that this is not new. The technology to fix this has been around since the 1990s, developed specifically to prevent collisions like the one that killed my brother. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has already made its recommendations to add that ADS-B In and ADS-B Out should be required for all aircraft in all airspace so that every aircraft can see and be seen. NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy stated in a board hearing in February 2026, that if these pilots had been able to see each other in real time, it would have 100 percent prevented the crash that killed 67 people, including my brother.
After the crash, the families of Flight 5342 and the NTSB introduced into legislation the ROTOR Act (Rotorcraft Operations Transparency and Oversight Reform Act) to address these failures. That recommendation passed the Senate unanimously, but it failed in the House by a single vote.
When elected government officials are flying in our airspace, they remove all aircraft and any potential safety risks out of the sky. The pilots for these officials can see in real time who is where and what to avoid. Why are we, the flying public, not offered the same privilege?
Now the ALERT Act is being presented as a solution. This act suggests it addresses 50 recommendations from the NTSB, but they do not fully address the problem, especially when it comes to full visibility in shared airspace. The families of Flight 5342 are asking people to pay attention. Call your congressmembers and ask why full visibility in shared airspace is not mandatory. Ask why known safety gaps are still being allowed. Demand ADS-B In and ADS-B Out on all aircraft, in all skies.
These systems will remain flawed as long as we do not pay attention and demand action. More awareness to this crash could have raised more urgency for our lawmakers to vote yes to the ROTOR Act. So as a family member of someone lost to this terrible tragedy, and who hopes to prevent another one from occurring again, I ask, in fact, I implore you to be aware of what our voices can do. When we the public are not paying attention, safety will be over looked. Systems will fail. And when systems fail, people die the same way 67 people already have.
The next time you board a flight, remember that you are trusting a system that still allows aircraft in shared airspace to go unseen. We cannot afford to look away until another tragedy forces the issue, because next time it may not be a story from across the country. It could be someone you know. It could be you right here in California.
