An aviation safety bill seeking to address lessons learned from last year’s midair collision of a jet and an Army helicopter near Washington, D.C., is up for a vote Tuesday. But the families of the 67 victims and key senators think the bill still needs to be strengthened. The National Transportation Safety Board said last month that the bill now addresses its key recommendation to require all aircraft flying around busy airports to have crucial locator systems that let pilots know more precisely where other aircraft are flying around them. NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy has said such a system could have prevented the collision of the American Airlines jet and the Black Hawk helicopter.

A Frontier Airlines jet nearly collided with two trucks that crossed in front of it Wednesday night at Los Angeles International Airport. But unlike last month’s deadly crash in New York while a plane was landing, this incident happened on a taxiway while the plane was moving slowly and no one was hurt. The Frontier pilot was alarmed and used an expletive as he told the tower he had to slam on the brakes to avoid a collision. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating what happened. Aviation safety expert Steve Arroyo said close calls like the one in Los Angeles happen every day but usually don't get attention because a collision is avoided.

The Transportation Safety Administration says most of its officers received most of their backpay Monday for working during the shutdown. Weary travelers hope the overdue paychecks will end the hourslong waits in security at several major U.S. airports. Wait times began improving when the TSA workers were promised their first paychecks in weeks. Bottlenecks disappeared at airports in Atlanta and Houston on Monday. Houston's main airport went from a four-hour line just day ago, to a 10-minute wait. President Donald Trump on Friday ordered the Department of Homeland Security to pay TSA officers immediately to ease the lines.

Heading into the weekend, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to pay the tens of thousands of TSA officers who have been working without pay for over a month during a partial government shutdown. It's unclear whether the move will translate into shorter wait times for passengers at airport security lines as the budget impasse continues. White House border czar Tom Homan said Sunday that federal immigration officers deployed to assist airports could remain in place until TSA operations return to normal. Major U.S. airports continued to recommend Sunday that passengers arrive several hours early.

Members of Congress have repeatedly introduced bills to ensure the federal employees who control air traffic and conduct airport security screenings get paid during government shutdowns. The Keep America Flying Act. The Keep Air Travel Safe Act. The Aviation Funding Stability Act. None passed in time to keep essential aviation workers from missing paychecks. President Donald Trump on Friday offered a short-term fix for the empty pockets of TSA agents who have gone unpaid since funding lapsed for the Department of Homeland Security in mid-February. Labor unions, airline executives and industry groups are urging Congress to provide a permanent solution by acting on any of the pending pay-protection bills with bipartisan support on paper.

Long-serving Missouri Republican Rep. Sam Graves has decided not to run for reelection. He said Friday in a social media post that he is “making room for the next generation” in Congress. Graves leads the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee and has been at the center of discussions about aviation safety. The solidly GOP and rural northern part of Missouri he's represented since 2001 is considered safe for Republicans. So far, 58 House members are stepping down or running for some other office, putting Congress on track for record turnover.

Federal investigators say one of only two air traffic controllers on duty at LaGuardia Airport cleared a fire truck to cross a runway just 12 seconds before an Air Canada flight touched down, leaving little time to avoid the collision that killed both pilots. The National Transportation Safety Board is working to determine which of the airport’s layers of safety precautions failed and allowed the fire truck onto the runway Sunday night. Among the areas being explored are whether the common practice of two controllers on duty overnight is enough and why a runway warning system didn’t alert the possibility of a crash. The plane carrying more than 70 people slammed into the fire truck, killing two pilots.