I 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4449 

To direct the Secretary of Transportation to establish a remote air traffic 

control tower pilot program. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 3, 2016 

Mr. KATKO (for himself and Mr. LIPINSKI) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Transportation to establish a 

remote air traffic control tower pilot program. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. REMOTE AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL TOWER PILOT 

4 PROGRAM. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months after the 

6 completion of a safety risk management panel conducted 

7 by the Federal Aviation Administration for the Leesburg, 

8 Virginia project, the Secretary of Transportation shall es9 tablish a pilot program under which the Secretary shall 

10 install and operate not more than 6 remote air traffic conVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:18 Feb 05, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4449.IH H4449

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1 trol towers to assess the benefits of the technology of such 

2 towers. 

3 (b) REQUIREMENT FOR OPERATION.—Before air 

4 traffic is actively controlled by a remote air traffic control 

5 tower at a participating airport, the Secretary shall com6 plete a safety risk management process for the individual 

7 airport. 

8 (c) APPLICATION.—An operator of an eligible airport 

9 may submit to the Secretary an application to participate 

10 in the pilot program under this section before such date 

11 and containing such information as the Secretary may re12 quire. 

13 (d) SELECTION CRITERIA.— 

14 (1) SELECTION OF AIRPORTS.—From among 

15 applications submitted under subsection (c), the Sec16 retary may select for participation in the pilot pro17 gram— 

18 (A) 1 nonhub primary airport; 

19 (B) 2 reliever airports without existing air 

20 traffic control towers; 

21 (C) 1 primary airport for the purpose of 

22 augmenting the capabilities of an existing air 

23 traffic control tower; and 

24 (D) 2 airports classified as local or basic in 

25 the national plan of integrated airport systems. 


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1 (2) APPLICANT SELECTION.—In carrying out 

2 the pilot program under this section, the Secretary 

3 shall— 

4 (A) in consultation with the exclusive rep5 resentative certified to represent air traffic con6 trollers under 7111 of title 5, United States 

7 Code, establish a list of benefits of remote 

8 tower technology to the National Airspace Sys9 tem and criteria that facilities should meet in 

10 order to best achieve those benefits; and 

11 (B) select applicants for participation in 

12 the pilot program based on such criteria. 

13 (3) ABILITY TO ALTER AIRPORT SELECTION.— 

14 If the Secretary receives an insufficient number of 

15 applications, the Secretary may alter the site dis16 tribution in paragraph (1). 

17 (4) DEADLINE.—The Secretary shall select air18 ports for participation in the pilot program not less 

19 than 90 days after the date that the applications 

20 under subsection (c) are required to be submitted. 

21 (5) PARTICIPATION IN CONTRACT TOWER PRO22 GRAM.—An airport selected for participation under 

23 the pilot program shall be eligible for participation 

24 in, and funding from, the control tower contract proVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:18 Feb 05, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4449.IH H4449

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1 gram established under section 47124 of title 49, 

2 United States Code. 

3 (e) ASSET CLASSIFICATION.—A remote air traffic 

4 control tower and ancillary equipment installed with Gov5 ernment funds pursuant to this section shall be considered 

6 an air navigation facility as defined in section 40102 of 

7 title 49, United States Code. 

8 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

9 (1) ELIGIBLE AIRPORT.—The term ‘‘eligible 

10 airport’’ means a public-use airport, as defined in 

11 section 47102 of title 49, United States Code. 

12 (2) REMOTE AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL TOWER.— 

13 The term ‘‘remote air traffic control tower’’ means 

14 a facility that— 

15 (A) is designed to provide the functions of 

16 an air traffic control tower for an airport with17 out regard to whether the tower is located at 

18 such airport; and 

19 (B) receives from such airport, through a 

20 secure network, high definition real-time im21 ages, sensor data, and other data from relevant 

22 systems. 


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1 (g) PERIOD OF THE PILOT PROGRAM.—The pilot 

2 program under this section shall terminate on the date 

3 that is 5 years after the date of enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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