Amy and Jocelyn Gannon Helicopter Tour Safety Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4645 To improve the requirements for commercial air tours and commercial air tour operators, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES SEPTEMBER 22, 2020 Ms. BALDWIN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation A BILL To improve the requirements for commercial air tours and commercial air tour operators, 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 ‘‘Amy and Jocelyn Gan- 4 non Helicopter Tour Safety Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6 In this Act: 7 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis- 8 trator’’ means the Administrator of the FAA. 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:35 Oct 05, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4645.IS S4645 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4645 IS (2) COMMERCIAL AIR TOUR.—The term ‘‘com- 1 mercial air tour’’ has the meaning given that term 2 in section 110.2 of title 14, Code of Federal Regula- 3 tions, as it applies to helicopters. 4 (3) COMMERCIAL AIR TOUR OPERATOR.— 5 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘commercial 6 air tour operator’’ means any person, operating 7 under part 91, 93, 121, 135, or 136 of title 14, 8 Code of Federal Regulations, who conducts a 9 commercial air tour. 10 (B) CLARIFICATION.—The operations de- 11 scribed in subparagraph (A) include any oper- 12 ation under section 119.1(e)(1) of title 14, Code 13 of Federal Regulations, provided that the oper- 14 ator of such operation has received and is in 15 compliance with a Letter of Authorization 16 issued under section 91.147 of title 14, Code of 17 Federal Regulations. 18 (4) FAA.—The term ‘‘FAA’’ means the Fed- 19 eral Aviation Administration. 20 (5) IFR CONDITIONS.—The term ‘‘IFR condi- 21 tions’’ has the meaning given that term in section 22 1.1 of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations. 23 (6) NTSB.—The term ‘‘NTSB’’ means the Na- 24 tional Transportation Safety Board. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:35 Oct 05, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4645.IS S4645 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4645 IS SEC. 3. REVIEW OF COMMERCIAL AIR TOUR ROUTES. 1 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 2 date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall do 3 the following: 4 (1) Develop a process to review and approve 5 any flight route used by a commercial air tour oper- 6 ator. 7 (2) Update the operator manual content re- 8 quirements under part 135 of title 14, Code of Fed- 9 eral Regulations, as it relates to helicopter air tour 10 operators, to require information about flight routes. 11 (b) EVALUATION OF WEATHER DATA.—Not later 12 than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 13 the Administrator, in consultation with the National 14 Weather Service, shall develop and implement the fol- 15 lowing: 16 (1) A process to obtain and evaluate weather 17 data to identify any flight route, or segment of a 18 flight route, used by a commercial air tour operator 19 that is susceptible to rapidly changing weather 20 events. 21 (2) Criteria to determine whether the frequency 22 of such rapidly changing weather events on such 23 flight route, or segment of such flight route, requires 24 that a commercial air tour operator be prohibited 25 from flying along any section of a flight route. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:35 Oct 05, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4645.IS S4645 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4645 IS SEC. 4. FAA AVIATION WEATHER CAMERA PROGRAM. 1 (a) WEATHER CAMERAS.—Not later than 90 days 2 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator 3 shall issue such regulations as are necessary to implement 4 the following NTSB recommendations: 5 (1) Safety Recommendation A–13–025, issued 6 on August 15, 2013 (relating to initiating an avia- 7 tion weather camera program in Hawaii that in- 8 cludes the installation and maintenance of aviation 9 weather cameras at critical locations in Hawaii and 10 to establish public access to these aviation weather 11 cameras’ real-time imagery). 12 (2) Safety Recommendation A–13–026, issued 13 on August 13, 2013 (relating to installing and main- 14 taining aviation weather cameras in those mountain 15 passes in the continental United States identified as 16 being high risk and to establish public access to 17 these aviation weather cameras’ real-time imagery). 18 (b) SURVEY OF WEATHER CAMERAS.— 19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 20 the date of enactment of this Act and biennially 21 thereafter, the Administrator shall survey the num- 22 ber and placement of any weather camera installed 23 through the FAA’s Aviation Weather Camera Pro- 24 gram, or an equivalent State-sponsored program, to 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Oct 07, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4645.IS S4645 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4645 IS determine whether there is sufficient weather cam- 1 era coverage. 2 (2) REQUEST FOR ADDITIONAL RESOURCES.— 3 If, as a result of the survey conducted pursuant to 4 paragraph (1), the Administrator determines that 5 additional funding for the installation or mainte- 6 nance of weather cameras is needed, the Adminis- 7 trator shall include that information in the FAA’s 8 annual budget request to Congress. 9 (c) TRAINING ON WEATHER CAMERAS.— 10 (1) COMMERCIAL AIR TOUR OPERATOR TRAIN- 11 ING.—Not later than 2 years after the date of enact- 12 ment of this Act, the Administrator shall establish 13 training requirements for each commercial air tour 14 operator to utilize real-time weather information 15 made available through the FAA’s Aviation Weather 16 Camera Program, including— 17 (A) using the information to determine 18 whether it is safe to fly in any area of a flight 19 route used by a commercial air tour operator 20 that is susceptible to rapidly changing weather 21 events; and 22 (B) advising flight crew members on alter- 23 native flight routes or the need for an imme- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Oct 07, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4645.IS S4645 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4645 IS diate landing when any rapidly changing weath- 1 er event develops or occurs. 2 (2) FLIGHT SERVICE STATION SPECIALIST 3 TRAINING.—Not later than 90 days after the date of 4 enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall ini- 5 tiate rulemaking to implement NTSB Safety Rec- 6 ommendation A–13–027, issued on August 15, 2013 7 (relating to equipping the flight service station spe- 8 cialists responsible for Hawaii and the continental 9 United States with the technical capabilities and 10 training to provide verbal preflight and en route 11 briefings using aviation weather camera imagery). 12 SEC. 5. FLIGHT DATA MONITORING PROGRAM. 13 Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment 14 of this Act, the Administrator shall initiate rulemaking for 15 such regulations as are necessary to implement the fol- 16 lowing NTSB recommendations, as they relate to heli- 17 copter air tour operators: 18 (1) Safety Recommendation A–16–034, issued 19 on November 3, 2016 (relating to requiring all 14 20 Code of Federal Regulations Part 135 operators to 21 install flight data recording devices capable of sup- 22 porting a flight data monitoring program). 23 (2) Safety Recommendation A–16–035, issued 24 on November 3, 2016 (relating to requiring all 14 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Oct 07, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4645.IS S4645 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 4645 IS Code of Federal Regulations Part 135 operators to 1 establish a structured flight data monitoring pro- 2 gram that reviews all available data sources to iden- 3 tify deviations from established norms and proce- 4 dures and other potential safety issues, after action 5 in Safety Recommendation A–16–034 is complete). 6 SEC. 6. OPERATIONAL AND TRAINING REQUIREMENTS. 7 (a) INSTRUMENT RATINGS.—Not later than 90 days 8 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator 9 shall initiate rulemaking to require any commercial air 10 tour operator to use pilots who— 11 (1) if applicable under part 61.65 of title 14, 12 Code of Federal Regulations, hold instrument rat- 13 ings appropriate to the aircraft flown; or 14 (2) hold an Airline Transport Pilot certificate 15 appropriate to the category and class of aircraft 16 flown, but which is not limited to Visual Flight 17 Rules according to the requirements under sections 18 61.57 and 61.65 of title 14, Code of Federal Regula- 19 tions. 20 (b) IFR CONDITIONS COMPETENCY PROGRAM.—Not 21 later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 22 the Administrator shall initiate rulemaking to require any 23 commercial air tour operator to establish an IFR condi- 24 tions competency program to allow pilots to maintain their 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Oct 07, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4645.IS S4645 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 4645 IS ability to operate a commercial air tour under IFR condi- 1 tions. 2 SEC. 7. IFR CONDITIONS EQUIPMENT STUDY. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall conduct 4 a study on the feasibility of requiring any helicopter used 5 for a commercial air tour to be equipped with the min- 6 imum equipment necessary to operate in IFR conditions. 7 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 8 of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall submit 9 to Congress a report on the study conducted pursuant to 10 subsection (a) together with recommendations for such 11 legislation or administrative action as the Administrator 12 determines to be appropriate. 13 SEC. 8. COMMERCIAL AIR TOUR VIDEOS STUDY. 14 (a) HELICOPTER MOUNTED VIDEO STUDY.— 15 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall con- 16 duct a study on the feasibility of permitting commer- 17 cial air tour operators or FAA inspectors to conduct 18 random audits (that meet the requirements de- 19 scribed in paragraph (2)) of helicopter mounted vid- 20 eos of commercial air tour flights. 21 (2) REQUIREMENT.—The requirement de- 22 scribed in this paragraph is that an audit address 23 flight safety and commercial air tour operator per- 24 formance with respect to— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Oct 07, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4645.IS S4645 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 4645 IS (A) safe flying techniques; and 1 (B) the avoidance of— 2 (i) dangerous terrain; and 3 (ii) rapidly changing weather events. 4 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 5 of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall submit 6 to Congress a report on the study conducted pursuant to 7 subsection (a) together with recommendations for such 8 legislation or administrative action as the Administrator 9 determines to be appropriate. 10 SEC. 9. EXEMPTION FROM CERTAIN REGULATORY RE- 11 QUIREMENTS. 12 Any rule or regulation promulgated by the Adminis- 13 trator pursuant to this Act— 14 (1) shall not be considered a rule or regulation 15 under Executive Order 13771 (5 U.S.C. 601 note; 16 relating to reducing regulation and controlling regu- 17 latory costs); and 18 (2) shall not be subject to the requirements set 19 forth in such Executive order. 20 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Oct 07, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4645.IS S4645 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS