Long Island All-Water Helicopter Route Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7730 To extend the special air traffic rule for civil helicopters operating VFR along the North Shore, Long Island, New York, to require the Adminis- trator of the Federal Aviation Administration to promulgate a new special air traffic rule, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 22, 2020 Mr. SUOZZI (for himself, Miss RICE of New York, Mr. KING of New York, and Mr. ZELDIN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure A BILL To extend the special air traffic rule for civil helicopters operating VFR along the North Shore, Long Island, New York, to require the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration to promulgate a new special air traffic rule, 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 ‘‘Long Island All-Water 4 Helicopter Route Act of 2020’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:14 Aug 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7730.IH H7730 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 7730 IH SEC. 2. LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK, NORTH SHORE AND 1 SOUTH SHORE HELICOPTER ROUTES. 2 (a) EXTENSION OF SPECIAL AIR TRAFFIC RULE FOR 3 NORTH SHORE.—Notwithstanding the ending date for the 4 period described in section 93.101 of title 14, Code of Fed- 5 eral Regulations, the special air traffic rule for civil heli- 6 copters operating VFR along the North Shore, Long Is- 7 land, New York, in effect under subpart H of part 93 of 8 title 14, Code of Federal Regulations, on August 6, 2020, 9 shall remain in effect through the day before the date on 10 which the final version of the special air traffic rule pro- 11 mulgated under subsection (b) is published. 12 (b) RULEMAKING PROCEEDING.— 13 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of the 14 Federal Aviation Administration (in this section re- 15 ferred to as the ‘‘Administrator’’) shall conduct a 16 rulemaking proceeding to promulgate a special air 17 traffic rule for civil helicopters operating VFR along 18 the North Shore and South Shore of Long Island, 19 New York, in accordance with the requirements of 20 this subsection. 21 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—The special air traffic 22 rule promulgated under this subsection shall require 23 the following: 24 (A) NORTH SHORE HELICOPTER ROUTE.— 25 Each person who pilots a civil helicopter oper- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:14 Aug 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7730.IH H7730 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 7730 IH ating VFR along Long Island, New York’s 1 northern shoreline between the VPLYD way- 2 point and Plum Island shall— 3 (i) based on the most recently pub- 4 lished editions by the Federal Aviation Ad- 5 ministration of the New York Helicopter 6 Route Chart and the Northeast Aero- 7 nautical Chart Bulletin, adhere to an all- 8 water North Shore Helicopter Route that 9 includes operating around Orient Point, 10 Shelter Island, and Plum Island; 11 (ii) mitigate noise by flying at least 1 12 mile from the shoreline and at an altitude 13 of not less than 2,500 feet mean sea level; 14 and 15 (iii) prohibit deviations from the 16 North Shore Helicopter Route for purposes 17 of transitioning to or from a destination or 18 point of landing when departing from or 19 arriving to locations east of longitude 20 72°16′04″ W. 21 (B) SOUTH SHORE HELICOPTER ROUTE.— 22 Each person who pilots a civil helicopter oper- 23 ating VFR along Long Island, New York’s 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:14 Aug 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7730.IH H7730 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 7730 IH southern shoreline between Breezy Point Jetty 1 and the VPMLT waypoint shall— 2 (i) based on the most recently pub- 3 lished editions by the Federal Aviation Ad- 4 ministration of the New York Helicopter 5 Route Chart and the Northeast Aero- 6 nautical Chart Bulletin, adhere to an all- 7 water South Shore Helicopter Route; and 8 (ii) mitigate noise by flying at least 1 9 mile from the shoreline and at an altitude 10 of not less than 2,500 feet mean sea level. 11 (C) EXCEPTIONS.—A person who pilots a 12 civil helicopter operating VFR along Long Is- 13 land, New York’s northern shoreline or south- 14 ern shoreline may deviate from the North Shore 15 Helicopter Route or South Shore Helicopter 16 Route— 17 (i) when necessary for safety or 18 weather conditions; or 19 (ii) except as prohibited under sub- 20 paragraph (A)(iii), when transitioning to 21 or from a destination or point of landing. 22 (D) FLIGHT REPORT.— 23 (i) SUBMISSION.—If safety or weather 24 conditions cause a person piloting a civil 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:14 Aug 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7730.IH H7730 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 7730 IH helicopter operating VFR to deviate from 1 the North Shore Helicopter Route or 2 South Shore Helicopter Route, the person 3 shall submit a 1-page report to the Admin- 4 istrator identifying the condition not later 5 than 14 days after landing. 6 (ii) PUBLIC DATABASE.—The Admin- 7 istrator shall make the reports submitted 8 under clause (i) publicly available in an on- 9 line searchable database. 10 (3) DEADLINES.— 11 (A) RULEMAKING PROCEEDING.—Not later 12 than 90 days after the date of enactment of 13 this Act, the Administrator shall publish a no- 14 tice of proposed rulemaking to carry out the re- 15 quirements of this section. 16 (B) PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD.—The Ad- 17 ministrator shall provide notice of, and an op- 18 portunity for, at least 30 days of public com- 19 ment on the special air traffic rule promulgated 20 under this subsection. 21 (C) EFFECTIVE DATE OF SPECIAL AIR 22 TRAFFIC RULE.—Not later than May 1, 2021, 23 the Administrator shall publish a final version 24 of the special air traffic rule promulgated under 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:14 Aug 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7730.IH H7730 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 7730 IH this subsection which shall take effect upon 1 publication. 2 (c) REPEAL.—Effective on the date on which the 3 final version of the special air traffic rule promulgated 4 under subsection (b) is published by the Administrator, 5 subpart H of part 93 of title 14, Code of Federal Regula- 6 tions, is repealed. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:14 Aug 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H7730.IH H7730 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS