H.R. 1848 — Referred from Senate

IIB 113th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 1848 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES July 17, 2013 Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation AN ACT To ensure that the Federal Aviation Administration advances the safety of small airplanes, and the continued development of the general aviation industry, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Small Airplane Revitalization Act of 2013. 2. Findings Congress finds the following: (1) A healthy small aircraft industry is integral to economic growth and to maintaining an effective transportation infrastructure for communities and nations around the world. (2) Small aircraft comprise nearly 90 percent of FAA type certified general aviation aircraft. (3) General aviation provides for the cultivation of a workforce of engineers, manufacturing and maintenance professionals, and pilots, who secure the Nation’s economic success and defense. (4) General aviation contributes to well-paying manufacturing and technology jobs in the United States, and these products are exported in great numbers, providing a positive trade balance. (5) Technology developed and proven in general aviation aids in the success and safety of all sectors of aviation and scientific competence. (6) The average small airplane in the United States is now 40 years old and the regulatory barriers to bringing new designs to market are resulting in a lack of innovation and investment in small airplane design. (7) Over the past decade, the United States has typically lost 10,000 active private pilots per year, partially due to a lack of cost-effective, new small airplanes. (8) General aviation safety can be improved by modernizing and revamping the regulations for this sector to clear the path for technology adoption and cost-effective means to retrofit the existing fleet with new safety technologies. 3. FAA safety and regulatory improvements for general aviation (a) Establishment of FAA safety and regulatory improvements for general aviation The Administrator shall advance the safety and continued development of small airplanes by reorganizing the certification requirements applicable to small airplanes to streamline the approval of safety advancements. (b) Regulations The Administrator shall issue a final rule based on the FAA’s Part 23 Reorganization Aviation Rulemaking Committee (established in August 2011) by December 31, 2015. The final rule shall meet the following objectives of the Part 23 Committee: (1) Create a regulatory regime for small airplanes that will improve safety and decrease certification costs. (2) Set broad, outcome-driven safety objectives that will spur innovation and technology adoption. (3) Replace current, prescriptive requirements contained in FAA rules with performance-based regulations. (4) Use FAA-accepted consensus standards to clarify how the part 23 safety objectives may be met by specific designs and technologies. (c) Consensus-Based standards The Administrator shall use acceptable consensus-based standards whenever possible in the spirit of the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1996 (15 U.S.C. 3701 note), while continuing traditional methods for meeting part 23. (d) Safety cooperation The Administrator shall lead the effort to improve general aviation safety by working with leading aviation regulators to assist them in adopting a complementary regulatory approach for small airplanes. 4. Definitions In this Act, the following definitions apply: (1) Administrator The term Administrator means the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration. (2) Consensus standards The term consensus standards means standards developed by voluntary organizations which plan, develop, establish, or coordinate voluntary standards using agreed-upon procedures, both domestic and international. These standards include provisions requiring that owners of relevant intellectual property agree to make that intellectual property available on a nondiscriminatory, royalty-free or reasonable-royalty basis to all interested parties. These bodies have the attributes of openness, balance of interest, due process, an appeals process, and consensus. (3) FAA The term FAA means the Federal Aviation Administration. (4) General aviation The term general aviation means all aviation activities other than scheduled commercial airline operations and military aviation. (5) Part 23 The term part 23 means part 23 of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations. (6) Small airplane The term small airplane means FAA type certificated airplanes that meet the parameters of part 23 of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations. Passed the House of Representatives July 16, 2013. Karen L. Haas, Clerk