[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3967 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3967

   To reform Federal Aviation Administration safety requirements for 
         commercial air tour operators, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 16, 2020

Mr. Schatz (for himself and Ms. Hirono) introduced the following bill; 
    which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 
                      Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To reform Federal Aviation Administration safety requirements for 
         commercial air tour operators, 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 ``Air Tour and Skydiving Safety 
Improvement Act of 2020''.

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) Commercial operator.--The term ``commercial operator'' 
        has the meaning given that term in section 1.1. of title 14, 
        Code of Federal Regulations.
            (4) Commercial air tour operator.--The term ``commercial 
        air tour operator'' has the meaning given that term for 
        purposes of part 136 of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations.
            (5) Parachute operation.--The term ``parachute operation'' 
        has the meaning given that term for purposes of part 105 and 
        section 119.1(e)(6) of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations.

SEC. 3. SAFETY REQUIREMENTS FOR COMMERCIAL AIR TOUR OPERATORS.

    (a) Safety Reforms.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall issue new or revised 
regulations that provide the following:
            (1) Part 121 or 135 certificate required.--The regulations 
        shall provide that--
                    (A) only persons who hold a certificate identifying 
                the person as an air carrier or commercial operator, or 
                both, under part 119 of title 14, Code of Federal 
                Regulations, and who conduct all commercial air tour 
                operations under the applicable provisions of part 121 
                or part 135 of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations, 
                shall be permitted to conduct business as a commercial 
                air tour operator; and
                    (B) beginning on the date that is 1 year after the 
                date of enactment of this Act, no person shall be 
                permitted to conduct business as a commercial air tour 
                operator under a certificate issued in accordance with 
                the exceptions specified in section 119.1(e)(2) of 
                title 14, Code of Federal Regulations.
            (2) Additional safety requirements.--The regulations also 
        shall--
                    (A) eliminate and repeal all exceptions currently 
                provided for under section 119.1(e)(2) of title 14, 
                Code of Federal Regulations;
                    (B) require all commercial air tour operators to 
                establish safety management system programs, including 
                by--
                            (i) requiring all commercial air tour 
                        operators to install crash-resistant flight 
                        data recording devices capable of supporting 
                        the requirements of the Flight Operational 
                        Quality Assurance Program;
                            (ii) establishing and implementing a 
                        performance-based standard for remote flight 
                        data monitoring for all commercial air tour 
                        operators; and
                            (iii) requiring all commercial air tour 
                        operators to establish a structured flight data 
                        monitoring program that reviews all available 
                        data sources to identify deviations from 
                        established norms and procedures and other 
                        potential safety issues;
                    (C) require all commercial air tour operators to 
                incorporate a controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) 
                avoidance training program that addresses reducing the 
                risk of CFIT accidents involving continuation of flight 
                under visual flight rules (VFR) into instrument 
                meteorological conditions, with special attention paid 
                to human factors issues, including, but not limited 
                to--
                            (i) the specific terrain, weather, and 
                        infrastructure challenges relevant to the 
                        operational environment; and
                            (ii) operational influence on pilot 
                        decision making relevant to the operational 
                        environment;
                    (D) require the implementation of methods to 
                provide effective terrain awareness and warning system 
                (TAWS) protections while mitigating nuisance alerts for 
                single-engine airplanes operated under part 135 of 
                title 14, Code of Federal Regulations, that frequently 
                operate at altitudes below their respective TAWS class 
                design alerting threshold; and
                    (E) require the development and implementation of a 
                single set of national standards and operations 
                specifications under part 135 of title 14, Code of 
                Federal Regulations (or any successor regulations) 
                applicable to all commercial air tour operators 
                conducting flights in powered airplanes or rotorcraft.

SEC. 4. IMPROVING DOT RESPONSES TO SAFETY RECOMMENDATIONS.

    (a) In General.--Section 1135 of title 49, United States Code, is 
amended--
            (1) in subsection (b), by adding at the end the following 
        new sentence: ``Each response under paragraph (2) or (3) of 
        subsection (a) shall include a detailed explanation of how the 
        Secretary's proposed action will meet or exceed the improvement 
        to transportation safety recommended by the Board that was not 
        adopted or refused.'';
            (2) in subsection (d)--
                    (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ``air carrier 
                operations conducted under part 121'' and inserting 
                ``operations conducted under part 121 or 135''; and
                    (B) in paragraph (3)(B)--
                            (i) in clause (i), by striking ``and'' 
                        after the semicolon;
                            (ii) in clause (ii), by striking the period 
                        at the end and inserting ``; and''; and
                            (iii) by adding at the end the following:
                            ``(iii) with respect to any recommendation 
                        in the preceding year which the Board has 
                        deemed the action of the Secretary as 
                        `Unacceptable', a detailed explanation of how 
                        the Secretary's action will meet or exceed the 
                        improvement to transportation safety 
                        recommended by the Board.''; and
            (3) in subsection (e)(2), by adding at the end the 
        following new sentence: ``If on June 1 of each year the Board 
        has not received the Secretary's report required by this 
        subsection, the Secretary shall be prohibited from issuing new 
        certifications under part 121 or part 135 of title 14, Code of 
        Federal Regulations (or any successor regulations) until the 
        report for such year is received by the Board.''.
    (b) Effective Date; Applicability.--
            (1) In general.--The amendments made by subsection (a) take 
        effect on the date of enactment of this Act.
            (2) DOT commercial aviation safety recommendations 
        reports.--The amendments made by paragraph (2) of subsection 
        (a) shall apply to reports required under section 1135(d) of 
        title 49, United States Code, for--
                    (A) the calendar year immediately preceding the 
                calendar year in which this Act is enacted;
                    (B) the calendar year in which this Act is enacted; 
                and
                    (C) each calendar year thereafter.

SEC. 5. REMOVAL OF REGULATORY BARRIERS TO SAFETY.

    Any rules or regulation promulgated by the Secretary of 
Transportation in response to a safety recommendation made by the 
National Transportation Safety Board--
            (1) shall not be considered a regulation or rule under 
        Executive Order 13771 (5 U.S.C. 601 note; relating to reducing 
        regulation and controlling regulatory costs);
            (2) shall not be subject to the requirements set forth in 
        that Executive order; and
            (3) shall be exempt from any other Executive order or 
        action that prohibits the evaluation and incorporation of 
        benefit as well as cost in accessing the worthiness of a 
        proposed rule or regulation.

SEC. 6. SAFETY REQUIREMENTS FOR SPORT PARACHUTE OPERATIONS.

    Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 
the Administrator shall--
            (1) issue new or revised regulations governing parachute 
        operations conducted in the United States that are subject to 
        the requirements of part 105 and section 119.1(e)(6) of title 
        14, Code of Federal Regulations, so as to require that such 
        operations develop and implement--
                    (A) Federal Aviation Administration-approved 
                aircraft maintenance and inspection programs that 
                include, at a minimum, requirements for compliance with 
                engine manufacturers' recommended maintenance 
                instructions, such as service bulletins and service 
                information letters for time between overhauls and 
                component life limits;
                    (B) initial and annual recurrent pilot training 
                programs that address, at a minimum, operation-specific 
                and aircraft-specific weight and balance calculations, 
                preflight inspections, emergency and recovery 
                procedures, and parachutist egress procedures for each 
                type of aircraft flown; and
                    (C) initial and annual recurrent pilot testing 
                programs for parachute operations pilots that address, 
                at a minimum, operation-specific and aircraft-specific 
                weight and balance calculations, preflight inspections, 
                emergency and recovery procedures, and parachutist 
                egress procedures for each type of aircraft flown, as 
                well as competency flight checks to determine pilot 
                competence in practical skills and techniques in each 
                type of aircraft; and
            (2) revise the guidance materials contained in Advisory 
        Circular 105 2C (relating to sport parachute jumping), to 
        include guidance for parachute operations in implementing the 
        training and testing programs required under the new and 
        revised regulations issued in accordance with paragraph (1).
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