[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 16 (Wednesday, January 25, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H299-H301]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
NOTAM IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2023
Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and
pass the bill (H.R. 346) to establish a task force on improvements for
notices to air missions, and for other purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 346
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 ``NOTAM Improvement Act of
2023''.
SEC. 2. FAA TASK FORCE ON NOTAM IMPROVEMENT.
(a) Establishment.--Not later than 180 days after the date
of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Federal
Aviation Administration shall establish a task force to be
known as the FAA Task Force on NOTAM Improvement (in this
section referred to as the ``Task Force'').
(b) Composition.--The Task Force shall consist of members
appointed by the Administrator, including at least one member
of each of the following:
(1) Air carrier representatives.
(2) Airport representatives.
(3) Labor union representatives of airline pilots.
(4) The labor union certified under section 7111 of title
5, United States Code, to represent FAA air traffic control
specialists assigned to the United States NOTAMs Office.
(5) The labor union certified under section 7111 of title
5, United States Code, to represent FAA aeronautical
information specialists.
(6) General and business aviation representatives.
(7) Aviation safety experts with knowledge of NOTAMs.
(8) Human factors experts.
(9) Computer system architecture and cybersecurity experts.
(c) Duties.--The duties of the Task Force shall include--
(1) reviewing existing methods for presenting NOTAMs and
flight operations information to pilots;
(2) reviewing regulations and policies relating to NOTAMs,
including their content and presentation to pilots;
(3) evaluating and determining best practices to organize,
prioritize, and present flight operations information in a
manner that optimizes pilot review and retention of relevant
information; and
(4) providing recommendations for--
(A) improving the presentation of NOTAM information in a
manner that prioritizes or highlights the most important
information, and optimizes pilot review and retention of
relevant information;
(B) ways to ensure that NOTAMs are complete, accurate, and
contain the proper information;
(C) any best practices that the FAA should consider to
improve the accuracy and understandability of NOTAMs and the
display of flight operations information;
(D) ways to work with air carriers, other airspace users,
and aviation service providers to implement solutions that
are aligned with the recommendations under this paragraph;
and
(E) ensuring the stability, resiliency, and cybersecurity
of the NOTAM computer system.
(d) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the
establishment of the Task Force, the Task Force shall submit
to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the
House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce,
Science, and Transportation of the Senate a report
detailing--
(1) the results of the reviews and evaluations of the Task
Force under paragraphs (1) through (3) of subsection (c);
(2) the best practices identified and recommendations
provided by the Task Force under subsection (c)(4);
(3) any recommendations of the Task Force for additional
regulatory or policy actions to improve the presentation of
NOTAMs; and
(4) the degree to which implementing the recommendations of
the Task Force described under paragraph (2) will address
National Transportation Safety Board Safety Recommendation A-
18-024.
(e) Applicable Law.--The Federal Advisory Committee Act (5
U.S.C. App.) shall not apply to the Task Force.
(f) Sunset.--The Task Force shall terminate on the later
of--
(1) the date on which the Task Force submits the report
required under subsection (d); or
(2) the date that is 18 months after the date on which the
Task Force is established under subsection (a).
(g) Authority.--The Administrator shall have the authority
to carry out the recommendations of the Task Force detailed
in the report required under subsection (d).
(h) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) FAA.--The term ``FAA'' means the Federal Aviation
Administration.
(2) NOTAM.--The term ``NOTAM'' means notices to air
missions required by international or domestic regulation or
law, as described in FAA Order 7930.2S.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Missouri (Mr. Graves) and the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Larsen)
each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Missouri.
General Leave
Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their
remarks and include extraneous material in the Record on H.R. 346, as
amended.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Missouri?
There was no objection.
Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I
may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 346, as amended, the NOTAM
Improvement Act of 2023.
Just 2 weeks ago, Americans woke to the largest ground stop of
aircraft since 9/11 due to the outage of the Federal Aviation
Administration's, FAA's, notice to air mission, more commonly called
the NOTAM system.
As a professional pilot, I use the NOTAM system on a regular basis
and know firsthand just how important it is to ensure that it is
reliable and functional.
This incident highlights a huge vulnerability in our transportation
system. As much as I wish we could say that this incident surprised us,
this kind of issue was inevitable. Committee leaders have repeatedly
raised the alarm about our woefully out-of-date NOTAM system.
This same bill has been introduced and passed two Congresses in a
row, and multiple laws coming out of the Transportation Committee have
demanded that the Department of Transportation and the FAA step up and
address the well-known issues with the NOTAM system.
What occurred nearly 2 weeks ago is unacceptable, and the American
people deserve much better. Hopefully, this incident was the wake-up
call that the DOT and the FAA needed to shake off their ongoing failure
to properly maintain our Nation's air traffic control system.
H.R. 346, as amended, is going to help address this failure by
identifying issues with the NOTAM system and proposing solutions to
prevent an incident of this magnitude from ever occurring in the
future.
This bill creates a special task force to improve the utility,
stability, resiliency, and cybersecurity of the FAA's NOTAM system.
Composed of representatives from airlines, aviation safety experts, and
other important aviation stakeholders, the task force is going to
review existing NOTAM policies, regulations, and the system's overall
integrity to determine best practices to increase the system's
efficiency and decrease its susceptibility to outages, which cause
other disruptions.
Originally, this bill was focused on improving the NOTAM presentation
so that pilots and dispatchers could focus on critical information that
matters. In 2017, an Air Canada flight nearly landed on a crowded
taxiway in San Francisco because the NOTAM informing them of a runway
closure was buried on page 8 of 27.
Mr. Speaker, we urgently need a better system and a more stable
system. I thank the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Stauber) and the
gentleman from California (Mr. DeSaulnier) for their leadership and
foresight on this particular piece of legislation.
H.R. 346 is a good, bipartisan, and timely aviation safety bill. It
shows that the people's House can rise to the urgent issues of the day.
Mr. Speaker, I support the legislation, and I reserve the balance of
my time.
Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I
may consume.
[[Page H300]]
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 346, the NOTAM Improvement Act
of 2023, as amended. This bill was introduced by the gentleman from
Minnesota (Mr. Stauber) and the gentleman from California (Mr.
DeSaulnier).
On the morning of January 11, the U.S. airspace came to a standstill
when the FAA grounded all airline domestic departures for the first
time since September 11, 2001, due to an agency contractor mistakenly
causing an outage of the FAA's NOTAM system.
NOTAMs are a critical part of our aviation infrastructure as they
provide essential, real-time flight safety information--such as
potential hazards--to pilots, flight dispatchers, and other airspace
users.
Although the FAA worked to quickly solve the problem and lift the
subsequent domestic flight ground stop, the cascading effects of mass
delays and cancellations were seen for hours.
I fully support the FAA's actions to ensure the NOTAM outage would
not affect the safety of the national airspace system; however, our
constituents deserve better. They deserve to have both a safe and
reliable national airspace system.
The FAA has moved to put several operational and systematic
mitigations in place to try to prevent future NOTAM outages from
occurring. However, the recent NOTAM system outage shows a clear need
to reexamine and modernize the safety-critical systems and legacy
infrastructure that flight crews and airline passengers depend upon.
To help strengthen the integrity of the system, this bipartisan bill
directs the FAA to create a task force on NOTAM improvement to review
existing methods for the content and presentation of NOTAMs to pilots;
determine best practices to prioritize and disseminate critical flight
information to pilots in a way that optimizes review and retention; and
develop recommendations to ensure stability, resiliency, and
cybersecurity of the NOTAM system.
This task force will be comprised of key aviation stakeholders,
including airline pilots, air traffic controllers, air carriers, and
aviation safety and computer system experts, among others.
This bill is an important step in a series of efforts Congress and
the FAA will undergo to modernize the NOTAM system. Later this week,
the chair and I and other Members of this body will be briefed by the
FAA Acting Administrator on the status of the preliminary investigation
into the NOTAM outage, how the FAA is responding to the incident, and
issues that Congress should be considering to further strengthen the
NOTAM system.
Fortunately, we are due for an FAA reauthorization bill this year,
giving us an opportunity to build upon the 2018 law and further
implement any necessary improvements to safeguard the NAS from similar
system outages.
The task force created under this bill will play an important role in
the FAA's ongoing NOTAM modernization initiative to ensure pilots,
flight crews, and other airspace users receive NOTAMs that are timely,
relevant, and accurate.
There can be no compromises when it comes to safety in the national
airspace.
As demand for air travel begins to meet and even exceed prepandemic
levels, this bill will help the FAA and the U.S. aviation industry
implement best practices to improve the safety of the traveling public
and the U.S. aviation workforce.
Mr. Speaker, I support this legislation, and I urge my colleagues to
do the same.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may
consume to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Stauber), the sponsor of
the bill.
Mr. STAUBER. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in support of my
bipartisan legislation that improves the safety of air travel. I also
thank my colleague, Mr. DeSaulnier, for his support and leadership on
this legislation, as well.
In 2022, the United States was home to 8 of the top 10 busiest
airports in the world. This means that, as Americans, we have no room
for error when it comes to aviation safety.
Although aviation is the safest form of travel, we must always strive
to be better. This is why we must address the notice to air missions,
or NOTAMs, system.
NOTAMs provide current, up-to-the-minute data to pilots on any aspect
of their flight. Unfortunately, NOTAMs are often buried in lengthy
reports, conflating important safety information with more common
alerts. These inefficiencies have the potential to create life-
threatening situations, which have just been mentioned.
On January 11, 2023, all U.S. domestic flights were grounded for the
first time since 9/11. The latest reports from the FAA suggest that the
unintentional deletion of files caused this chaos.
{time} 1300
No one person or one file should be able to take down our whole
flight safety system, but the NOTAM system is old and antiquated so it
comes as no real surprise.
Unfortunately, leadership at the Department of Transportation is more
concerned with woke politics and changing the name of the system,
rather than appropriate upgrades for aviation safety.
Mr. Speaker, I have been advocating for NOTAM upgrades for 4 years
now. My legislation, which creates a task force at the FAA with
important input from safety experts and industry professionals to
address both efficiency and resiliency of the NOTAM system, has passed
out of the House both in the 116th Congress and in the 117th Congress
in a bipartisan fashion, only to die in the Senate.
I encourage my colleagues in both the House and the Senate to pass my
legislation before another failure of the NOTAM system occurs. Our
pilots, crew members, and passengers are counting on us.
Mr. Speaker, we do have a change in the 118th Congress. The
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is being led by two of my
friends. Chairman Sam Graves is ready, able, and willing to change how
the committee works and actually bring forth legislation that is good
for the American people and good for our transportation. I have full
faith in my good friend, Ranking Member Larsen to do the same. We have
worked together in the past, and I see this committee succeeding with
the leadership that I have previously seen by the chair and the ranking
member.
Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the
gentleman from California (Mr. DeSaulnier).
Mr. DeSAULNIER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I
also thank my partner in this legislation and Chairman Graves for his
positive comments.
As was mentioned, in 2017 an Air Canada plane at San Francisco
International Airport got within 59 feet of crashing into four planes
loaded with passengers, putting the lives of more than 1,000 people at
risk, which would have been the greatest aviation disaster in American
history. When the National Transportation Safety Board investigated,
they found that the outdated NOTAM system was the largest part of the
near disaster.
Since then, I and others have been working with the aviation
industry, the FAA, the NTSB, and the Transportation and Infrastructure
Committee to address the critical issues with NOTAMs. Updating them and
making them more accessible to the people who use them is essential to
the safety of the flying public and the confidence of the users.
Earlier this month, we learned what happens when there is an outage
in the system: chaos and grounded flights.
In response to the Air Canada incident, I authored the Safe Landings
Act, which would work to improve many aspects of aviation safety
technology, including to the NOTAM system. With Members of both parties
and the chair and ranking member, we have worked over the years to
continue to hold the FAA accountable for the safety of passengers,
crew, and aircraft.
In 2018, we included a requirement in the FAA reauthorization to
speed up the modernization of the NOTAM system. Last year, more than 4
years after the provision passed into law, I led a letter with Ranking
Member Larsen to the FAA asking why the system was still outdated.
[[Page H301]]
The mass flight cancellations that resulted from the outage further
emphasized the need to make rigorous and immediate updates to the
NOTAMs, and brought public awareness to this critical system.
I am proud to have worked with my colleague and friend from Minnesota
on this bill in a bipartisan manner and look forward to protecting the
safety of the flying public. With the creation of this task force, this
will be accomplished.
Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers. I am
prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the
gentleman from New York (Mr. Torres).
Mr. TORRES of New York. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 346,
the NOTAM Improvement Act of 2023.
The FAA's Notice to Air System, NOTAM, which sends real-time alerts
to pilots about safety conditions, experienced an outage with
consequences so far-reaching that it led to nearly more than 10,000
flight delays and more than 1,300 flight cancellations.
Even though the cause of the outage bore no connection to a
cyberattack, the breakdown in NOTAM alerts, nonetheless, raises
concerns about the cyber vulnerabilities of the antiquated systems that
underlie modern air travel.
At a time when cyberattacks are rising in both scope and
sophistication, modernizing the cybersecurity of air travel must be a
priority for the Federal Government. Mr. Speaker, 20th century air
systems will no longer suffice in a world of 21st century cyber
challenges.
That is why I wrote a letter calling upon both CISA and DOT to
conduct a joint review of the cyber vulnerabilities of all aviation
systems, including NOTAM. That is why I will proudly vote for
bipartisan legislation requiring the FAA to establish a task force on
NOTAM improvement.
Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my
time.
Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Speaker, as the ranking member of the
House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, I believe we have to
do everything we can to ensure the U.S. remains the gold standard in
aviation safety. That is why I support H.R. 346, as amended, and I urge
my colleagues to do the same.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, in closing, H.R. 346, as
amended, takes a very important step in ensuring that America's
National Airspace System is going to remain intact, remain operational,
and remain safe for the American people.
Again, I thank Mr. Stauber and Mr. DeSaulnier for their work on this
legislation. It is a good bill, and I urge all Members to support it.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Graves) that the House suspend the rules
and pass the bill, H.R. 346, as amended.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and
nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further
proceedings on this motion will be postponed.
____________________