II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3967 

To reform Federal Aviation Administration safety requirements for 

commercial air tour operators, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 16, 2020 

Mr. SCHATZ (for himself and Ms. HIRONO) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

Transportation 

A BILL 

To reform Federal Aviation Administration safety requirements for commercial air tour operators, 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 ‘‘Air Tour and Sky5 diving Safety Improvement Act of 2020’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


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1 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis2 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Federal 

3 Aviation Administration. 

4 (2) AIR CARRIER.—The term ‘‘air carrier’’ has 

5 the meaning given that term in section 40102 of 

6 title 49, United States Code. 

7 (3) COMMERCIAL OPERATOR.—The term ‘‘com8 mercial operator’’ has the meaning given that term 

9 in section 1.1. of title 14, Code of Federal Regula10 tions. 

11 (4) COMMERCIAL AIR TOUR OPERATOR.—The 

12 term ‘‘commercial air tour operator’’ has the mean13 ing given that term for purposes of part 136 of title 

14 14, Code of Federal Regulations. 

15 (5) PARACHUTE OPERATION.—The term ‘‘para16 chute operation’’ has the meaning given that term 

17 for purposes of part 105 and section 119.1(e)(6) of 

18 title 14, Code of Federal Regulations. 

19 SEC. 3. SAFETY REQUIREMENTS FOR COMMERCIAL AIR 

20 TOUR OPERATORS. 

21 (a) SAFETY REFORMS.—Not later than 180 days 

22 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Adminis23 trator shall issue new or revised regulations that provide 

24 the following: 


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1 (1) PART 121 OR 135 CERTIFICATE RE2 QUIRED.—The regulations shall provide that— 

3 (A) only persons who hold a certificate 

4 identifying the person as an air carrier or com5 mercial operator, or both, under part 119 of 

6 title 14, Code of Federal Regulations, and who 

7 conduct all commercial air tour operations 

8 under the applicable provisions of part 121 or 

9 part 135 of title 14, Code of Federal Regula10 tions, shall be permitted to conduct business as 

11 a commercial air tour operator; and 

12 (B) beginning on the date that is 1 year 

13 after the date of enactment of this Act, no per14 son shall be permitted to conduct business as a 

15 commercial air tour operator under a certificate 

16 issued in accordance with the exceptions speci17 fied in section 119.1(e)(2) of title 14, Code of 

18 Federal Regulations. 

19 (2) ADDITIONAL SAFETY REQUIREMENTS.—The 

20 regulations also shall— 

21 (A) eliminate and repeal all exceptions cur22 rently provided for under section 119.1(e)(2) of 

23 title 14, Code of Federal Regulations; 


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1 (B) require all commercial air tour opera2 tors to establish safety management system 

3 programs, including by— 

4 (i) requiring all commercial air tour 

5 operators to install crash-resistant flight 

6 data recording devices capable of sup7 porting the requirements of the Flight 

8 Operational Quality Assurance Program; 

9 (ii) establishing and implementing a 

10 performance-based standard for remote 

11 flight data monitoring for all commercial 

12 air tour operators; and 

13 (iii) requiring all commercial air tour 

14 operators to establish a structured flight 

15 data monitoring program that reviews all 

16 available data sources to identify deviations 

17 from established norms and procedures 

18 and other potential safety issues; 

19 (C) require all commercial air tour opera20 tors to incorporate a controlled flight into ter21 rain (CFIT) avoidance training program that 

22 addresses reducing the risk of CFIT accidents 

23 involving continuation of flight under visual 

24 flight rules (VFR) into instrument meteorolog25 ical conditions, with special attention paid to 


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1 human factors issues, including, but not limited 

2 to— 

3 (i) the specific terrain, weather, and 

4 infrastructure challenges relevant to the 

5 operational environment; and 

6 (ii) operational influence on pilot deci7 sion making relevant to the operational en8 vironment; 

9 (D) require the implementation of methods 

10 to provide effective terrain awareness and warn11 ing system (TAWS) protections while miti12 gating nuisance alerts for single-engine air13 planes operated under part 135 of title 14, 

14 Code of Federal Regulations, that frequently 

15 operate at altitudes below their respective 

16 TAWS class design alerting threshold; and 

17 (E) require the development and imple18 mentation of a single set of national standards 

19 and operations specifications under part 135 of 

20 title 14, Code of Federal Regulations (or any 

21 successor regulations) applicable to all commer22 cial air tour operators conducting flights in 

23 powered airplanes or rotorcraft. 


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1 SEC. 4. IMPROVING DOT RESPONSES TO SAFETY REC2 OMMENDATIONS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1135 of title 49, United 

4 States Code, is amended— 

5 (1) in subsection (b), by adding at the end the 

6 following new sentence: ‘‘Each response under para7 graph (2) or (3) of subsection (a) shall include a de8 tailed explanation of how the Secretary’s proposed 

9 action will meet or exceed the improvement to trans10 portation safety recommended by the Board that 

11 was not adopted or refused.’’; 

12 (2) in subsection (d)— 

13 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘air car14 rier operations conducted under part 121’’ and 

15 inserting ‘‘operations conducted under part 121 

16 or 135’’; and 

17 (B) in paragraph (3)(B)— 

18 (i) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘and’’ 

19 after the semicolon; 

20 (ii) in clause (ii), by striking the pe21 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

22 (iii) by adding at the end the fol23 lowing: 

24 ‘‘(iii) with respect to any recommen25 dation in the preceding year which the 

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1 retary as ‘Unacceptable’, a detailed expla2 nation of how the Secretary’s action will 

3 meet or exceed the improvement to trans4 portation safety recommended by the 

5 Board.’’; and 

6 (3) in subsection (e)(2), by adding at the end 

7 the following new sentence: ‘‘If on June 1 of each 

8 year the Board has not received the Secretary’s re9 port required by this subsection, the Secretary shall 

10 be prohibited from issuing new certifications under 

11 part 121 or part 135 of title 14, Code of Federal 

12 Regulations (or any successor regulations) until the 

13 report for such year is received by the Board.’’. 

14 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICABILITY.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—The amendments made by 

16 subsection (a) take effect on the date of enactment 

17 of this Act. 

18 (2) DOT COMMERCIAL AVIATION SAFETY REC19 OMMENDATIONS REPORTS.—The amendments made 

20 by paragraph (2) of subsection (a) shall apply to re21 ports required under section 1135(d) of title 49, 

22 United States Code, for— 

23 (A) the calendar year immediately pre24 ceding the calendar year in which this Act is 

25 enacted; 


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1 (B) the calendar year in which this Act is 

2 enacted; and 

3 (C) each calendar year thereafter. 

4 SEC. 5. REMOVAL OF REGULATORY BARRIERS TO SAFETY. 

5 Any rules or regulation promulgated by the Secretary 

6 of Transportation in response to a safety recommendation 

7 made by the National Transportation Safety Board— 

8 (1) shall not be considered a regulation or rule 

9 under Executive Order 13771 (5 U.S.C. 601 note; 

10 relating to reducing regulation and controlling regu11 latory costs); 

12 (2) shall not be subject to the requirements set 

13 forth in that Executive order; and 

14 (3) shall be exempt from any other Executive 

15 order or action that prohibits the evaluation and in16 corporation of benefit as well as cost in accessing the 

17 worthiness of a proposed rule or regulation. 

18 SEC. 6. SAFETY REQUIREMENTS FOR SPORT PARACHUTE 

19 OPERATIONS. 

20 Not later than 60 days after the date of the enact21 ment of this Act, the Administrator shall— 

22 (1) issue new or revised regulations governing 

23 parachute operations conducted in the United States 

24 that are subject to the requirements of part 105 and 

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1 ulations, so as to require that such operations de2 velop and implement— 

3 (A) Federal Aviation Administration-ap4 proved aircraft maintenance and inspection pro5 grams that include, at a minimum, require6 ments for compliance with engine manufactur7 ers’ recommended maintenance instructions, 

8 such as service bulletins and service information 

9 letters for time between overhauls and compo10 nent life limits; 

11 (B) initial and annual recurrent pilot 

12 training programs that address, at a minimum, 

13 operation-specific and aircraft-specific weight 

14 and balance calculations, preflight inspections, 

15 emergency and recovery procedures, and para16 chutist egress procedures for each type of air17 craft flown; and 

18 (C) initial and annual recurrent pilot test19 ing programs for parachute operations pilots 

20 that address, at a minimum, operation-specific 

21 and aircraft-specific weight and balance calcula22 tions, preflight inspections, emergency and re23 covery procedures, and parachutist egress pro24 cedures for each type of aircraft flown, as well 

25 as competency flight checks to determine pilot 


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1 competence in practical skills and techniques in 

2 each type of aircraft; and 

3 (2) revise the guidance materials contained in 

4 Advisory Circular 105 2C (relating to sport para5 chute jumping), to include guidance for parachute 

6 operations in implementing the training and testing 

7 programs required under the new and revised regu8 lations issued in accordance with paragraph (1). 

Æ 


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