[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5401 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5401

  To require aircraft manufacturers to offer or provide non-required 
safety enhancing equipment of an aircraft without additional charge to 
                an air carrier, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           December 11, 2019

  Mr. Cohen introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
             Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To require aircraft manufacturers to offer or provide non-required 
safety enhancing equipment of an aircraft without additional charge to 
                an air carrier, 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 ``Safety is Not for Sale Act of 
2019''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the 
        Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration.
            (2) Air carrier.--The term ``air carrier'' has the meaning 
        given that term in section 40102 of title 49, United States 
        Code.
            (3) Angle of attack indicator.--The term ``angle of attack 
        indicator'' means an instrument that provides a visual 
        indication of the amount of lift an aircraft is generating at a 
        given airspeed or angle of bank.
            (4) Backup fire suppression systems.--The term ``backup 
        fire suppression systems'' means safety features that provide 
        additional firefighting capability to required systems that are 
        certified by the Federal Aviation Administration.
            (5) Covered air carrier.--The term ``covered air carrier'' 
        means an air carrier operating under part 121 of title 14, Code 
        of Federal Regulations.
            (6) Covered manufacturer.--The term ``covered 
        manufacturer'' means an entity that manufactures or otherwise 
        produces aircraft operating under part 121 of title 14, Code of 
        Federal Regulations, and holds a production certificate under 
        section 44704(c) of title 49, United States Code.
            (7) Disagree alerts.--The term ``disagree alerts'' means an 
        indication to one or more crewmembers that may be visual, 
        aural, or indicated by some other means, when two or more 
        redundant aircraft safety-critical sensors are providing 
        different readings.
            (8) Non-required safety enhancing equipment.--The term 
        ``non-required safety enhancing equipment'' means an apparatus, 
        item, software, alert, or system that is not required by any 
        Federal regulations and measurably increases aircraft safety, 
        including any--
                    (A) traffic advisory system;
                    (B) terrain advisory;
                    (C) attitude indicator;
                    (D) weather advisory;
                    (E) crashworthiness improvement;
                    (F) configuration advisory;
                    (G) supplemental indicator;
                    (H) monitoring or detection system;
                    (I) extinguishing system; and
                    (J) stability and control apparatus, item, alert, 
                or system.

SEC. 3. REQUIREMENT TO OFFER OR PROVIDE NON-REQUIRED SAFETY ENHANCING 
              EQUIPMENT OF AN AIRCRAFT.

    (a) Requirement.--Not later than 2 years after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall require a covered 
manufacturer to offer or provide non-required safety enhancing 
equipment without an additional charge to a covered air carrier.
    (b) Non-Required Safety Enhancing Equipment Program.--To carry out 
the requirement in subsection (a), the Administrator shall create and 
implement a program to identify, classify, and approve non-required 
safety enhancing equipment that--
            (1) has a variety of safety benefits, including (but not 
        limited to)--
                    (A) increasing overall situational awareness;
                    (B) providing additional information other than the 
                aircraft primary system;
                    (C) providing independent warning, cautionary, or 
                advisory indications; and
                    (D) providing additional occupant safety 
                protection;
            (2) is determined to be a minor change to type design; and
            (3) mitigates a non-essential function failure condition.
    (c) Equipment Approval.--The Administrator shall identify, 
classify, and approve non-required safety enhancing equipment that--
            (1) has met or exceeded minimum design requirements to 
        assure the effective operation of the non-required safety 
        enhancing equipment;
            (2) has met or exceeded safety objectives to ensure non-
        required safety enhancing equipment enhances safety and is 
        complementary to required equipment; and
            (3) has a completed safety evaluation that considers--
                    (A) whether the non-required safety enhancing 
                equipment requires pilot and crewmember training, 
                taking into account the architecture, functionality, 
                operational capabilities and limitations of the non-
                required safety enhancing equipment, and assurances 
                that all foreseeable failure conditions have been 
                identified and assessed; and
                    (B) interactions and operational interfaces related 
                to human factors.

SEC. 4. NON-REQUIRED SAFETY ENHANCING EQUIPMENT REPORTING REQUIREMENT.

    (a) Reporting Requirement.--The Administrator shall--
            (1) require a covered manufacturer to submit to the 
        Administrator, not later than 6 months after the date of 
        enactment of this Act and every year thereafter, a list of all 
        non-required safety enhancing equipment the covered 
        manufacturer offers to covered air carriers, without regard to 
        whether any such equipment has been approved under the process 
        established under section 2, that includes the information 
        specified in subsection (b); and
            (2) publish on a public website, and make accessible to the 
        general public, each such list submitted.
    (b) Content Requirements.--With respect to each non-required safety 
enhancing equipment a covered manufacturer includes in any list 
submitted in accordance with subsection (a), the covered manufacturer 
shall describe in detail how the equipment--
            (1) increases overall situational awareness;
            (2) provides additional information other than the aircraft 
        primary system;
            (3) provides independent warning, cautionary, or advisory 
        indications; and
            (4) provides additional occupant safety protection.

SEC. 5. REQUIRED PERFORMANCE STANDARDS FOR ANGLE OF ATTACK INDICATORS, 
              DISAGREE ALERTS, AND BACKUP FIRE SUPPRESSION SYSTEMS.

    (a) Development and Certification Requirements.--
            (1) Deadline for implementation.--Not later than 1 year 
        after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator 
        shall--
                    (A) establish performance standards applicable to 
                angle of attack indicators, disagree alerts, and backup 
                fire suppression systems for aircraft operating under 
                part 121 of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations; and
                    (B) implement procedures for covered manufacturers 
                to obtain certification for angle of attack indicators, 
                disagree alerts, and backup fire suppression systems 
                for such aircraft that meet such performance standards 
                as a condition of holding a production certificate 
                under section 44704(c) of title 49, United States Code.
            (2) Monthly progress reports.--During the 1-year period 
        that begins on the date of enactment of this Act, the 
        Administrator shall submit monthly reports to Congress on the 
        progress being made to carry out the requirements of paragraph 
        (1).
    (b) Installation and Operation.--The Administrator shall require by 
regulation that, not later than 30 months after the date certification 
procedures are implemented in accordance with paragraph (1)(B), angle 
of attack indicators, disagree alerts, and backup fire suppression 
systems that are certified as meeting the applicable performance 
standards established under paragraph (1)(A) are installed and operated 
on each aircraft operating under part 121 of title 14, Code of Federal 
Regulations.
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