I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1848 

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. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 7, 2013 

Mr. POMPEO (for himself, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. GRAVES of Missouri, Mr. 

NOLAN, and Mr. ROKITA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Small Airplane Revital5 ization Act of 2013’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) A healthy small aircraft industry is integral 

2 to economic growth and to maintaining an effective 

3 transportation infrastructure for communities and 

4 nations around the world. 

5 (2) Small aircraft comprise nearly 90 percent of 

6 FAA-type certified general aviation aircraft. 

7 (3) General aviation provides for the cultivation 

8 of a workforce of engineers, manufacturing and 

9 maintenance professionals, and pilots who secure the 

10 Nation’s economic success and defense. 

11 (4) General aviation contributes to well-paying 

12 manufacturing and technology jobs in the United 

13 States, and these products are exported in great 

14 numbers, providing a positive trade balance. 

15 (5) Technology developed and proven in general 

16 aviation aids in the success and safety of all sectors 

17 of aviation and scientific competence. 

18 (6) The average small airplane in the United 

19 States is now 40 years old and the regulatory bar20 riers to bringing new designs to market are resulting 

21 in a lack of innovation and investment in small air22 plane design. 

23 (7) Over the past decade, the United States 

24 typically lost 10,000 active private pilots per year 


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1 partially due to a lack of cost-effective, new small 

2 airplanes. 

3 (8) General aviation safety can be improved by 

4 modernizing and revamping the regulations for this 

5 sector to clear the path for technology adoption and 

6 cost effective means to retrofit the existing fleet with 

7 new safety technologies. 

8 SEC. 3. FAA SAFETY AND REGULATORY IMPROVEMENTS 

9 FOR GENERAL AVIATION. 

10 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF FAA SAFETY AND REGU11 LATORY IMPROVEMENTS FOR GENERAL AVIATION.—The 

12 Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration 

13 shall advance the safety and continued development of 

14 small airplanes by reorganizing the certification require15 ments to streamline the approval of safety advancements. 

16 (b) REGULATIONS.—The Administrator shall issue a 

17 final rule based on the FAA’s Part 23 Reorganization 

18 Aviation Rulemaking Committee (established in August 

19 2011) by December 31, 2015. The final rule shall meet 

20 the following objectives of the Part 23 Committee: 

21 (1) Create a regulatory regime for small air22 planes that will improve safety and decrease certifi23 cation costs. 

24 (2) Set broad, outcome driven safety objectives 

25 that will spur innovation and technology adoption. 


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1 (3) Replace current, prescriptive requirements 

2 contained in FAA rules with performance based reg3 ulations. 

4 (4) Use FAA-accepted consensus standards to 

5 clarify how the Part 23 safety objectives may be met 

6 by specific designs and technologies. 

7 (c) CONSENSUS-BASED STANDARDS.—The Adminis8 trator shall use acceptable consensus-based standards 

9 whenever possible in the spirit of the National Technology 

10 Transfer and Advancement Act of 1996 (15 U.S.C. 3701 

11 note) while continuing to evaluate traditional methods for 

12 meeting the objectives of Part 23. 

13 (d) SAFETY COOPERATION.—The Administrator shall 

14 lead the effort to improve general aviation safety by work15 ing with leading aviation regulators to assist them in 

16 adopting a complementary regulatory approach for small 

17 airplanes. 

18 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

19 For purposes of this Act, the following definitions 

20 apply: 

21 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis22 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Federal 

23 Aviation Administration. 

24 (2) CONSENSUS STANDARDS.—The term ‘‘con25 sensus standards’’ means standards developed by 


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1 voluntary organizations which plan, develop, estab2 lish, or coordinate voluntary standards using agreed3 upon procedures, both domestic and international. 

4 These standards include provisions requiring that 

5 owners of relevant intellectual property have agreed 

6 to make that intellectual property available on a 

7 nondiscriminatory, royalty-free, or reasonable royalty 

8 basis to all interested parties. These bodies have the 

9 attributes of openness, balance of interest, due proc10 ess, an appeals process and consensus. 

11 (3) FAA.—The term ‘‘FAA’’ means the Fed12 eral Aviation Administration. 

13 (4) GENERAL AVIATION.—The term ‘‘general 

14 aviation’’ means all aviation activities other than 

15 scheduled commercial airline operations and military 

16 aviation. 

17 (5) SMALL AIRPLANE.—The term ‘‘small air18 plane’’ means FAA-type certificated airplanes that 

19 meet the parameters of part 23 of title 14 of the 

20 Code of Federal Regulations. 

Æ 


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