US lawmakers urge cut in Washington-area military training flights after fatal collision

WASHINGTON, March 21 (Reuters) - Ten U.S. House of Representatives Democratic lawmakers on Friday urged the Pentagon to reduce military training flights in the Washington, D.C., area after a January midair collision between an American Airlines AAL.O regional jet and a U.S. Army helicopter killed 67 people.

The lawmakers, in a letter, said they also want the Pentagon to require the use of a key safety system known as ADS-B that was not operating on the Army helicopter at the time of the collision. "To the maximum extent practicable, military training flights should be conducted outside the National Capital Region," Representative Don Beyer and the other Democrats wrote.