[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2912 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2912

To require the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration to 
   finalize the proposed rule relating to the reduction of fuel tank 
             flammability exposure, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 28, 2007

    Mr. Bishop of New York introduced the following bill; which was 
     referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration to 
   finalize the proposed rule relating to the reduction of fuel tank 
             flammability exposure, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Transport Aircraft Fuel Tank Safety 
Act of 2007''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The Federal Aviation Administration has achieved little 
        progress toward limiting transport category aircraft deaths 
        resulting from center wing fuel tank explosions, including the 
        crash of Trans World Airlines Flight 800 off the coast of East 
        Moriches, Suffolk County, Long Island, New York on July 17, 
        1996 (the single largest loss of life as a result of a 
        preventable center wing fuel tank explosion in a transport 
        category aircraft).
            (2) Over the course of the past 15 years, 3 separate fatal 
        transport category aircraft accidents resulting in the loss of 
        346 lives were the result of preventable fuel tank explosions.
            (3) Center wing fuel tank explosions of transport category 
        aircraft remain a concern and have the potential to cause 
        flight disasters.
            (4) The National Transportation Safety Board, pursuant to 
        its recommendations A-96-174 and A-96-175, explicitly affirms 
        that the elimination of center wing fuel tank explosions is a 
        primary objective of aviation safety and that, when considering 
        safety changes, the Federal Aviation Administration should give 
        significant consideration to fuel tank inerting systems.
            (5) The Federal Goverment has enacted aviation safety 
        measures in response to the tragedy of Trans World Airlines 
        Flight 800 and recognized the hardship confronted by family 
        members of the passenger victims who were killed as a result of 
        the crash.
            (6) There is a need to address and resolve the risk to 
        airline passengers due to the vulnerability of aircraft center 
        wing fuel tanks to explosion.

SEC. 2. IMPLEMENTATION OF FAA RULE RELATING TO FUEL TANK FLAMMABILITY.

    (a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, not 
later than January 1, 2008, the Administrator of the Federal Aviation 
Administration shall finalize and implement the rule proposed by the 
Federal Aviation Administration relating to the reduction of fuel tank 
flammability in transport category airplanes (70 Fed. Reg. 70922, dated 
November 23, 2005) and shall take such action as may be necessary to 
ensure that operators and manufacturers of airplanes will take 
appropriate action to comply with the rule.
    (b) Study and Report.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
the enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Federal Aviation 
Administration shall conduct a study and report to Congress regarding 
ways to improve the safety and reduce the flammability of fuel tanks 
that are located on the wings of airplanes.
                                 <all>