[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1848 Reported in House (RH)]
Union Calendar No. 109
113th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1848
[Report No. 113-151]
To ensure that the Federal Aviation Administration advances the safety
of small airplanes, and the continued development of the general
aviation industry, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 7, 2013
Mr. Pompeo (for himself, Mr. Lipinski, Mr. Graves of Missouri, Mr.
Nolan, and Mr. Rokita) introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
July 16, 2013
Additional sponsors: Mr. Hanna, Mr. Young of Alaska, Mr. Westmoreland,
Mr. Petri, Mr. Barrow of Georgia, Ms. Jenkins, Mr. Rodney Davis of
Illinois, Mr. Huelskamp, Mr. Cramer, Mr. Radel, Mr. Meehan, Mr. Duncan
of Tennessee, Mr. Marchant, Mr. Johnson of Ohio, Mr. Massie, Mr.
Meadows, Mr. Ribble, Mr. Carson of Indiana, Mr. Campbell, Mr. Griffin
of Arkansas, Mr. Owens, Mr. Bucshon, Mr. Coble, Mr. Collins of New
York, Mr. Webster of Florida, Mr. Schock, and Mrs. Bustos
July 16, 2013
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed
in italic]
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on May 7,
2013]
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To ensure that the Federal Aviation Administration advances the safety
of small airplanes, and the continued development of the general
aviation industry, 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 ``Small Airplane Revitalization Act of
2013''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) A healthy small aircraft industry is integral to
economic growth and to maintaining an effective transportation
infrastructure for communities and nations around the world.
(2) Small aircraft comprise nearly 90 percent of FAA type
certified general aviation aircraft.
(3) General aviation provides for the cultivation of a
workforce of engineers, manufacturing and maintenance
professionals, and pilots, who secure the Nation's economic
success and defense.
(4) General aviation contributes to well-paying
manufacturing and technology jobs in the United States, and
these products are exported in great numbers, providing a
positive trade balance.
(5) Technology developed and proven in general aviation
aids in the success and safety of all sectors of aviation and
scientific competence.
(6) The average small airplane in the United States is now
40 years old and the regulatory barriers to bringing new
designs to market are resulting in a lack of innovation and
investment in small airplane design.
(7) Over the past decade, the United States has typically
lost 10,000 active private pilots per year, partially due to a
lack of cost-effective, new small airplanes.
(8) General aviation safety can be improved by modernizing
and revamping the regulations for this sector to clear the path
for technology adoption and cost-effective means to retrofit
the existing fleet with new safety technologies.
SEC. 3. FAA SAFETY AND REGULATORY IMPROVEMENTS FOR GENERAL AVIATION.
(a) Establishment of FAA Safety and Regulatory Improvements for
General Aviation.--The Administrator shall advance the safety and
continued development of small airplanes by reorganizing the
certification requirements applicable to small airplanes to streamline
the approval of safety advancements.
(b) Regulations.--The Administrator shall issue a final rule based
on the FAA's Part 23 Reorganization Aviation Rulemaking Committee
(established in August 2011) by December 31, 2015. The final rule shall
meet the following objectives of the Part 23 Committee:
(1) Create a regulatory regime for small airplanes that
will improve safety and decrease certification costs.
(2) Set broad, outcome-driven safety objectives that will
spur innovation and technology adoption.
(3) Replace current, prescriptive requirements contained in
FAA rules with performance-based regulations.
(4) Use FAA-accepted consensus standards to clarify how the
part 23 safety objectives may be met by specific designs and
technologies.
(c) Consensus-Based Standards.--The Administrator shall use
acceptable consensus-based standards whenever possible in the spirit of
the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1996 (15 U.S.C.
3701 note), while continuing traditional methods for meeting part 23.
(d) Safety Cooperation.--The Administrator shall lead the effort to
improve general aviation safety by working with leading aviation
regulators to assist them in adopting a complementary regulatory
approach for small airplanes.
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act, the following definitions apply:
(1) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the
Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration.
(2) Consensus standards.--The term ``consensus standards''
means standards developed by voluntary organizations which
plan, develop, establish, or coordinate voluntary standards
using agreed-upon procedures, both domestic and international.
These standards include provisions requiring that owners of
relevant intellectual property agree to make that intellectual
property available on a nondiscriminatory, royalty-free or
reasonable-royalty basis to all interested parties. These
bodies have the attributes of openness, balance of interest,
due process, an appeals process, and consensus.
(3) FAA.--The term ``FAA'' means the Federal Aviation
Administration.
(4) General aviation.--The term ``general aviation'' means
all aviation activities other than scheduled commercial airline
operations and military aviation.
(5) Part 23.--The term ``part 23'' means part 23 of title
14, Code of Federal Regulations.
(6) Small airplane.--The term ``small airplane'' means FAA
type certificated airplanes that meet the parameters of part 23
of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations.
Union Calendar No. 109
113th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1848
[Report No. 113-151]
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To ensure that the Federal Aviation Administration advances the safety
of small airplanes, and the continued development of the general
aviation industry, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
July 16, 2013
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed