Relatives of air crash victims want new safety measures

The loved ones of the 67 people who died last year when an airliner and Army helicopter collided over Washington, D.C., urged Congress and regulators on Tuesday to do more now so other families aren’t left clutching belongings and memories instead of their spouses and children.

Several of the victims’ families joined with top lawmakers and the head of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) outside the US Capitol to demand action, but it may be difficult for this Congress to pass anything ahead of the midterm elections. Lawmakers are still trying to draft a compromise bill that will combine elements of the competing proposals that previously passed the House and Senate.

Doug Lane said he has the US figure skating jacket that his son Spencer worked so hard to earn and pieces of his wife Christine’s laptop that were retrieved from the wreckage after their plane plunged into the icy Potomac River in the deadliest US aviation disaster since 2001. Everyone aboard was killed when American Airlines Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kansas, and the Army Black Hawk helicopter on a training mission collided. The victims included 28 members of the figure skating community.