Improving Helicopter Safety Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1643 To amend title 49, United States Code, to prohibit certain helicopter flights over major cities with high population densities, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 8, 2021 Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York (for herself, Mr. NADLER, and Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure A BILL To amend title 49, United States Code, to prohibit certain helicopter flights over major cities with high population densities, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Improving Helicopter 4 Safety Act of 2021’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:35 May 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1643.IH H1643 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1643 IH SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON CERTAIN FLIGHTS OVER MAJOR 1 CITIES. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 447 of title 49, United 3 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol- 4 lowing: 5 ‘‘§ 44741. Prohibition on certain flights over major 6 cities 7 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after the 8 date of enactment of this section, no person may operate 9 a civil rotorcraft in covered airspace except as provided 10 for under subsection (b). 11 ‘‘(b) EXCEPTIONS.— 12 ‘‘(1) PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY.—The pro- 13 hibition in subsection (a) shall not apply to a flight 14 carried out for purposes of public health and safety, 15 including— 16 ‘‘(A) law enforcement; 17 ‘‘(B) emergency response; 18 ‘‘(C) disaster response; 19 ‘‘(D) the provision of medical services; and 20 ‘‘(E) providing other services for the ben- 21 efit of the general public, including flights car- 22 ried out for research or for official purposes by 23 a news organization. 24 ‘‘(2) INFRASTRUCTURE MAINTENANCE.—The 25 prohibition in subsection (a) shall not apply to a 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:35 May 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1643.IH H1643 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1643 IH flight carried out for purposes heavy-lift operations 1 in support of construction and infrastructure main- 2 tenance. 3 ‘‘(c) COVERED AIRSPACE DEFINED.—In this section, 4 the term ‘covered airspace’ means the airspace directly 5 over any city with a population over 8 million people and 6 with a population density of over 25,000 people per square 7 mile, including the airspace over any waterways considered 8 within the limits of such city.’’. 9 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of sec- 10 tions for chapter 447 of title 49, United States Code, is 11 amended by adding at the end the following: 12 ‘‘44741. Prohibition on certain flights over major cities.’’. SEC. 3. HELICOPTER FLIGHT ROUTES FOR MAJOR CITIES 13 AND SURROUNDING AREAS. 14 Not later than 90 days after a city initially meets the 15 requirements to be covered by the prohibition in section 16 44741 of title 49, United States Code (as added by section 17 2), the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administra- 18 tion shall issue or update such regulations as are nec- 19 essary to carry out the requirements of such section. 20 SEC. 4. TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS. 21 (a) SECTION 44737.—Chapter 447 of title 49, United 22 States Code, is amending by redesignating the second sec- 23 tion 44737 (as added by section 581 of the FAA Reau- 24 thorization Act of 2018) as section 44740. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:35 May 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1643.IH H1643 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1643 IH (b) ANALYSIS.—The analysis for chapter 447 of title 1 49, United States Code, is amended— 2 (1) by striking the item relating to the second 3 section 44737 (as added by section 581 of the FAA 4 Reauthorization Act of 2018); and 5 (2) by inserting after the item relating to sec- 6 tion 44739 the following new item: 7 ‘‘44740. Special rule for certain aircraft operations.’’. (c) SPECIAL RULE FOR CERTAIN AIRCRAFT OPER- 8 ATIONS.—Section 44740 of title 49, United States Code, 9 (as redesignated by subsection (a)) is amended— 10 (1) in the heading, by striking the period at the 11 end; 12 (2) in subsection (b)(1), by striking ‘‘(1)’’ the 13 second time it appears; and 14 (3) in subsection (c)(2), by adding a period at 15 the end. 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:35 May 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1643.IH H1643 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS