The collision over Washington, D.C. still lingers as one of those moments that reshapes policy almost overnight. Sixty-seven lives lost in a dense, complex airspace where military, civilian, and rotary traffic intersect exposed something deeper than a single operational failure. It showed how fragile layered systems can become when proximity, speed, and mixed-use airspace all converge at once. In response, Congressman John Garamendi and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee pushed forward the Airspace Location and Enhanced Risk Transparency Act, better known as the ALERT Act.