[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1335 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]
S.1335
One Hundred Twelfth Congress
of the
United States of America
AT THE SECOND SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
the third day of January, two thousand and twelve
An Act
To amend title 49, United States Code, to provide rights for pilots, 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 ``Pilot's Bill of Rights''.
SEC. 2. FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION ENFORCEMENT PROCEEDINGS AND
ELIMINATION OF DEFERENCE.
(a) In General.--Any proceeding conducted under subpart C, D, or F
of part 821 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, relating to
denial, amendment, modification, suspension, or revocation of an airman
certificate, shall be conducted, to the extent practicable, in
accordance with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the Federal
Rules of Evidence.
(b) Access to Information.--
(1) In general.--Except as provided under paragraph (3), the
Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (referred to
in this section as the ``Administrator'') shall provide timely,
written notification to an individual who is the subject of an
investigation relating to the approval, denial, suspension,
modification, or revocation of an airman certificate under chapter
447 of title 49, United States Code.
(2) Information required.--The notification required under
paragraph (1) shall inform the individual--
(A) of the nature of the investigation;
(B) that an oral or written response to a Letter of
Investigation from the Administrator is not required;
(C) that no action or adverse inference can be taken
against the individual for declining to respond to a Letter of
Investigation from the Administrator;
(D) that any response to a Letter of Investigation from the
Administrator or to an inquiry made by a representative of the
Administrator by the individual may be used as evidence against
the individual;
(E) that the releasable portions of the Administrator's
investigative report will be available to the individual; and
(F) that the individual is entitled to access or otherwise
obtain air traffic data described in paragraph (4).
(3) Exception.--The Administrator may delay timely notification
under paragraph (1) if the Administrator determines that such
notification may threaten the integrity of the investigation.
(4) Access to air traffic data.--
(A) FAA air traffic data.--The Administrator shall provide
an individual described in paragraph (1) with timely access to
any air traffic data in the possession of the Federal Aviation
Administration that would facilitate the individual's ability
to productively participate in a proceeding relating to an
investigation described in such paragraph.
(B) Air traffic data defined.--As used in subparagraph (A),
the term ``air traffic data'' includes--
(i) relevant air traffic communication tapes;
(ii) radar information;
(iii) air traffic controller statements;
(iv) flight data;
(v) investigative reports; and
(vi) any other air traffic or flight data in the
Federal Aviation Administration's possession that would
facilitate the individual's ability to productively
participate in the proceeding.
(C) Government contractor air traffic data.--
(i) In general.--Any individual described in paragraph
(1) is entitled to obtain any air traffic data that would
facilitate the individual's ability to productively
participate in a proceeding relating to an investigation
described in such paragraph from a government contractor
that provides operational services to the Federal Aviation
Administration, including control towers and flight service
stations.
(ii) Required information from individual.--The
individual may obtain the information described in clause
(i) by submitting a request to the Administrator that--
(I) describes the facility at which such
information is located; and
(II) identifies the date on which such information
was generated.
(iii) Provision of information to individual.--If the
Administrator receives a request under this subparagraph,
the Administrator shall--
(I) request the contractor to provide the requested
information; and
(II) upon receiving such information, transmitting
the information to the requesting individual in a
timely manner.
(5) Timing.--Except when the Administrator determines that an
emergency exists under section 44709(c)(2) or 46105(c), the
Administrator may not proceed against an individual that is the
subject of an investigation described in paragraph (1) during the
30-day period beginning on the date on which the air traffic data
required under paragraph (4) is made available to the individual.
(c) Amendments to Title 49.--
(1) Airman certificates.--Section 44703(d)(2) of title 49,
United States Code, is amended by striking ``but is bound by all
validly adopted interpretations of laws and regulations the
Administrator carries out unless the Board finds an interpretation
is arbitrary, capricious, or otherwise not according to law''.
(2) Amendments, modifications, suspensions, and revocations of
certificates.--Section 44709(d)(3) of such title is amended by
striking ``but is bound by all validly adopted interpretations of
laws and regulations the Administrator carries out and of written
agency policy guidance available to the public related to sanctions
to be imposed under this section unless the Board finds an
interpretation is arbitrary, capricious, or otherwise not according
to law''.
(3) Revocation of airman certificates for controlled substance
violations.--Section 44710(d)(1) of such title is amended by
striking ``but shall be bound by all validly adopted
interpretations of laws and regulations the Administrator carries
out and of written agency policy guidance available to the public
related to sanctions to be imposed under this section unless the
Board finds an interpretation is arbitrary, capricious, or
otherwise not according to law''.
(d) Appeal From Certificate Actions.--
(1) In general.--Upon a decision by the National Transportation
Safety Board upholding an order or a final decision by the
Administrator denying an airman certificate under section 44703(d)
of title 49, United States Code, or imposing a punitive civil
action or an emergency order of revocation under subsections (d)
and (e) of section 44709 of such title, an individual substantially
affected by an order of the Board may, at the individual's
election, file an appeal in the United States district court in
which the individual resides or in which the action in question
occurred, or in the United States District Court for the District
of Columbia. If the individual substantially affected by an order
of the Board elects not to file an appeal in a United States
district court, the individual may file an appeal in an appropriate
United States court of appeals.
(2) Emergency order pending judicial review.--Subsequent to a
decision by the Board to uphold an Administrator's emergency order
under section 44709(e)(2) of title 49, United States Code, and
absent a stay of the enforcement of that order by the Board, the
emergency order of amendment, modification, suspension, or
revocation of a certificate shall remain in effect, pending the
exhaustion of an appeal to a Federal district court as provided in
this Act.
(e) Standard of Review.--
(1) In general.--In an appeal filed under subsection (d) in a
United States district court, the district court shall give full
independent review of a denial, suspension, or revocation ordered
by the Administrator, including substantive independent and
expedited review of any decision by the Administrator to make such
order effective immediately.
(2) Evidence.--A United States district court's review under
paragraph (1) shall include in evidence any record of the
proceeding before the Administrator and any record of the
proceeding before the National Transportation Safety Board,
including hearing testimony, transcripts, exhibits, decisions, and
briefs submitted by the parties.
SEC. 3. NOTICES TO AIRMEN.
(a) In General.--
(1) Definition.--In this section, the term ``NOTAM'' means
Notices to Airmen.
(2) Improvements.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Federal
Aviation Administration shall begin a Notice to Airmen Improvement
Program (in this section referred to as the ``NOTAM Improvement
Program'')--
(A) to improve the system of providing airmen with
pertinent and timely information regarding the national
airspace system;
(B) to archive, in a public central location, all NOTAMs,
including the original content and form of the notices, the
original date of publication, and any amendments to such
notices with the date of each amendment; and
(C) to apply filters so that pilots can prioritize critical
flight safety information from other airspace system
information.
(b) Goals of Program.--The goals of the NOTAM Improvement Program
are--
(1) to decrease the overwhelming volume of NOTAMs an airman
receives when retrieving airman information prior to a flight in
the national airspace system;
(2) make the NOTAMs more specific and relevant to the airman's
route and in a format that is more useable to the airman;
(3) to provide a full set of NOTAM results in addition to
specific information requested by airmen;
(4) to provide a document that is easily searchable; and
(5) to provide a filtering mechanism similar to that provided
by the Department of Defense Notices to Airmen.
(c) Advice From Private Sector Groups.--The Administrator shall
establish a NOTAM Improvement Panel, which shall be comprised of
representatives of relevant nonprofit and not-for-profit general
aviation pilot groups, to advise the Administrator in carrying out the
goals of the NOTAM Improvement Program under this section.
(d) Phase-in and Completion.--The improvements required by this
section shall be phased in as quickly as practicable and shall be
completed not later than the date that is 1 year after the date of the
enactment of this Act.
SEC. 4. MEDICAL CERTIFICATION.
(a) Assessment.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States
shall initiate an assessment of the Federal Aviation
Administration's medical certification process and the associated
medical standards and forms.
(2) Report.--The Comptroller General shall submit a report to
Congress based on the assessment required under paragraph (1) that
examines--
(A) revisions to the medical application form that would
provide greater clarity and guidance to applicants;
(B) the alignment of medical qualification policies with
present-day qualified medical judgment and practices, as
applied to an individual's medically relevant circumstances;
and
(C) steps that could be taken to promote the public's
understanding of the medical requirements that determine an
airman's medical certificate eligibility.
(b) Goals of the Federal Aviation Administration's Medical
Certification Process.--The goals of the Federal Aviation
Administration's medical certification process are--
(1) to provide questions in the medical application form that--
(A) are appropriate without being overly broad;
(B) are subject to a minimum amount of misinterpretation
and mistaken responses;
(C) allow for consistent treatment and responses during the
medical application process; and
(D) avoid unnecessary allegations that an individual has
intentionally falsified answers on the form;
(2) to provide questions that elicit information that is
relevant to making a determination of an individual's medical
qualifications within the standards identified in the
Administrator's regulations;
(3) to give medical standards greater meaning by ensuring the
information requested aligns with present-day medical judgment and
practices; and
(4) to ensure that--
(A) the application of such medical standards provides an
appropriate and fair evaluation of an individual's
qualifications; and
(B) the individual understands the basis for determining
medical qualifications.
(c) Advice From Private Sector Groups.--The Administrator shall
establish a panel, which shall be comprised of representatives of
relevant nonprofit and not-for-profit general aviation pilot groups,
aviation medical examiners, and other qualified medical experts, to
advise the Administrator in carrying out the goals of the assessment
required under this section.
(d) Federal Aviation Administration Response.--Not later than 1
year after the issuance of the report by the Comptroller General
pursuant to subsection (a)(2), the Administrator shall take appropriate
actions to respond to such report.
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.