[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 195 (Wednesday, December 19, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S16007-S16008]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. INHOFE:
  S. 11. A bill to provide liability protection to volunteer pilot 
nonprofit organizations that fly for public benefit and to the pilots 
and staff of such nonprofit organizations, and for other purposes; to 
the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, as one of the Senate's commercially 
licensed pilots, I rise to talk about an issue near and dear to my 
heart--flying. As many in this Chamber know, I love flying and have 
flown thousands of hours, attended the well-known AirVenture aviation 
event in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, each year, and even recreated Wiley Post's 
trip around the world. I have received notable recognition for this 
beloved hobby.
  Today, I am here to acknowledge a group of people who share my love 
of flying--volunteer pilots. Non-profit, charitable associations called 
Volunteer Pilot Organizations, VPOs, provide the resources to help 
these self-sacrificing men and women serve people in need.
  There are approximately 40 to 50 VPO's in the United States ranging 
from small, local groups to large, national associations. Air Charity 
Network, ACN, is the Nation's largest VPO and has seven member 
organizations that collectively serve the entire country and perform 
about 90 percent of all charitable aviation missions in the U.S. ACN's 
volunteer pilots provide free air transportation for people in need of 
specialized medical treatment at distant locations due to family, 
community or national crises. They also step in when commercial air 
service is not available with middle-of-the-night organ transplant 
patient flights, disaster response missions evacuating special needs 
patients, and transport of blood or blood products in emergencies.
  ACN and its more than 8,000 volunteer pilots use their own planes, 
pay for their own fuel, and even take time from their ``day'' jobs to 
serve people in need. These Good Samaritans will provide charitable 
flights for an estimated 24,000 patients this year alone and their 
safety record is phenomenal. In their more than 30 years of service, 
the pilots of ACN have flown over 250,000 missions covering over 80 
million miles and have never had a fatal accident.
  Following the September 11 terrorist attacks, ACN aircraft were the 
first to be approved to fly in disaster-response teams and supplies. 
Similarly, in 2005, ACN pilots flew over 2,600 missions after 
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, reuniting families torn apart by the 
disaster and relocating them to safe housing. Their service was 
invaluable to the thousands of people they saved during these national 
crises.
  Despite this goodwill, there is a loophole in the law that subjects 
these heroes and charitable organizations to frivolous, costly 
lawsuits. Currently, although volunteer pilots are required to carry 
liability insurance, if they have an accident, the injured party can 
sue for any amount of money--the sky is the limit. It would be up to a 
jury to decide on an amount. If that amount is higher than the 
liability limit on a pilot's insurance, then the pilot is at risk of 
losing their personal investments, home, business and other assets, 
potentially bringing them financial ruin.
  Additionally, the cost of insurance and lack of available non-owned 
aircraft liability insurance for organizations since the terrorist 
attacks of September 11 prevents VPOs from acquiring liability 
protection for their organizations, boards, and staff. Without this 
insurance, if a volunteer pilot were to have an accident using his or 
her own aircraft, everyone connected to the organization could be 
subject to a costly lawsuit, despite the fact that none of those people 
were directly involved with the dispatch of the flight, the pilot's 
decisions, or the aircraft itself.
  Exposure to this type of risk makes it difficult for these 
organizations to recruit and retain volunteer pilots and professional 
staff. It also makes referring medical professionals such as hospitals, 
doctors, nurses, social workers, and disaster agencies like the 
American Red Cross, less likely to tell patients or evacuees that 
charitable medical air transportation is available for fear of a 
liability suit against them. Instead of focusing on serving people with 
medical needs, these organizations are spending considerable time and 
resources averting a lawsuit and recruiting volunteers.
  This is why today I am introducing the Volunteer Pilot Organization 
Protection Act of 2007, which I cosponsored in the last two Congresses, 
to help close this costly loophole. My bill amends the Volunteer 
Protection Act of 1997, VPA, which was intended to increase 
volunteerism in the United States, to include groups such as ACN and 
the American Red Cross in the list of types of organizations that are 
currently exempt from liability. More specifically, it will protect 
volunteer pilot organizations, their boards, paid staff and non-flying 
volunteers from liability should there be an accident. It will also 
provide liability protection for individual volunteer pilots over and 
above the liability insurance that they are currently required to 
carry, as well

[[Page S16008]]

as liability protection for the referring agencies who inform their 
patients of charitable flight services.
  Similar legislation was introduced in the Senate in the past several 
Congresses and passed overwhelmingly in the House in the 108th Congress 
by a vote of 385-12 and by voice vote in the 109th Congress. Clearly, 
the Volunteer Pilot Organization Protection Act has significant 
support. The companion version, H.R. 2191, was introduced in May by my 
colleague, Congresswoman Thelma Drake, with ten original, bipartisan 
cosponsors.
  My bill will go a long way to help eliminate unnecessary liability 
risk and allow volunteer pilots and the charitable organizations for 
which they fly to concentrate on what they do best--save lives. Please 
join me in supporting the Volunteer Pilot Organization Protection Act 
of 2007.
                                 ______