[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 82 (Wednesday, June 13, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1095]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           INTRODUCTION OF THE AIRCRAFT CLEAN AIR ACT OF 2001

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                          HON. JERROLD NADLER

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 13, 2001

  Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing the Aircraft Clean 
Air Act of 2001 along with Senator Diane Feinstein who has introduced 
the companion bill in the Senate. This legislation is intended to 
create a procedure within the FAA to record cabin air quality incidents 
on commercial flights and to require airlines to turn over certain 
information regarding those complaints to the FAA.
  The problem, Mr. Speaker, is that there is no way for passengers and 
crew members to register complaints about poor air quality they may 
have experienced on a commercial flight in the United States. Airlines 
are not required to save, or make available, valuable maintenance 
records of the flights where air quality problems are reported. Nor are 
they required to make available the chemical constituents present to 
which a person on the plane may be exposed. As a result, we have very 
little information as to the frequency or nature of cabin air quality 
incidents.
  The Aircraft Clean Air Act of 2001 addresses this problem by allowing 
passengers and crew members to register cabin air quality complaints 
directly with the FAA. The FAA is then required to pass the complaint 
on to the appropriate airline, and to keep records of all complaints 
for ten years. Further, a passenger or crew members may request that 
the airline named in their complaint turn over the applicable 
mechanical and maintenance records of the flight in question if they 
have had a medical professional verify their symptoms. Airlines would 
have 15 days to turn over this information, after which a civil penalty 
of $1,000 per day would be levied on the airline for every day they do 
not turn over the requested information.
  The Aircraft Clean Air Act of 2001 addresses another issue as well, 
the level at which aircraft are pressurized in flight. Currently 
airplanes are pressurized at 8,000 feet while they are in the air. This 
means that for the duration a flight is in the air, it feels to the 
passengers as if they are at 8,000 feet above sea level, regardless of 
the actual altitude of the aircraft. The 8,000 foot standard was based 
on outdated research that used an unrepresentative sample of the 
population. Recently, there have been questions regarding the safety of 
the 8,000 foot level. As a person goes higher above sea level, the rate 
at which oxygen is absorbed into the body decreases. This could cause 
problems such as shortness of breath and numbness in limbs, and lead to 
other health related problems.
  The Aircraft Clean Air Act of 2001 authorizes the FAA to sponsor a 
study to determine if the cabin altitude rate, as currently defined by 
existing government regulation, should be lowered. The study would 
examine the affects of altitudes between 5,000 and 8,000 feet on 
various types of people that broadly represent the public. The bill 
allows universities to compete to conduct the study, and allows the 
National Academy of Sciences' ``Committee on Air Quality in Passenger 
Cabins of Commercial Aircraft'' to select the winner.
  Mr. Speaker, airlines should be required to record all air quality 
complaints from passengers and crew members and to turn over the 
requested maintenance information in order to insure that our airlines 
remain the safest in the world. This is a matter of extreme importance 
for the flying public as well as those who work in the industry, and I 
urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

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