II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3866 

To amend title 49, United States Code, to improve the Federal Aviation 

Administration’s aircraft certification process, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 2, 2020 

Mr. WICKER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To amend title 49, United States Code, to improve the 

Federal Aviation Administration’s aircraft certification 

process, 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 ‘‘Aircraft Safety Im5 provement Act of 2020’’. 

6 SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

7 The table of contents of this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title. 

Sec. 2. Table of contents. 

Sec. 3. Definitions. 

Sec. 4. Safety management system for manufacturers. 

Sec. 5. Best practices for Organization Designation Authorizations. 


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Sec. 6. Review of human factors assumptions. 

Sec. 7. Human factors research plan. 

Sec. 8. Certification pilot operational evaluations. 

Sec. 9. Review of FAA certification expertise. 

1 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act: 

3 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis4 trator’’ means the Administrator of the FAA. 

5 (2) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON6 GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con7 gress’’ means the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

8 and Transportation of the Senate and the Com9 mittee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the 

10 House of Representatives. 

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

13 SEC. 4. SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR MANUFACTUR14 ERS. 

15 (a) RULEMAKING PROCEEDING.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall con17 duct a rulemaking proceeding to require that manu18 facturers that hold both a type certificate and a pro19 duction certificate issued pursuant to section 44704 

20 of title 49, United States Code, where the United 

21 States is the State of Design and State of Manufac22 ture, have in place a safety management system that 

23 is consistent with the standards established by the 


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1 International Civil Aviation Organization for such 

2 systems. 

3 (2) AVIATION RULEMAKING COMMITTEE.—Not 

4 later than 90 days after the date of enactment of 

5 this Act, the Administrator shall establish an avia6 tion rulemaking committee to make recommenda7 tions on the rulemaking to be carried out under 

8 paragraph (1). 

9 (b) FINAL RULE DEADLINE.—Not later than 24 

10 months after establishing the aviation rulemaking com11 mittee under subsection (a)(2), the Administrator shall 

12 issue a final rule pursuant to the rulemaking proceeding 

13 required under subsection (a). 

14 (c) SURVEILLANCE AND AUDIT REQUIREMENT.— 

15 The final rule issued pursuant to subsection (b) shall in16 clude a requirement for the Administrator to implement 

17 a documented surveillance process by defining and plan18 ning inspections, audits, and monitoring activities on a 

19 continuous basis, to ensure that design and production ap20 proval holders of aviation products meet and continue to 

21 meet safety management system requirements under the 

22 rule. 


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1 SEC. 5. BEST PRACTICES FOR ORGANIZATION DESIGNA2 TION AUTHORIZATIONS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 213 of the FAA Reau4 thorization Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–254, 132 Stat. 

5 3249) is amended— 

6 (1) by striking subsection (g); 

7 (2) by redesignating subsections (c) through (f) 

8 as subsections (d) through (g), respectively; 

9 (3) by inserting after subsection (b), the fol10 lowing: 

11 ‘‘(c) BEST PRACTICES REVIEW.—In addition to con12 ducting the survey required under subsection (b), the 

13 Panel shall conduct a review of all ODA holders to identify 

14 and develop best practices. At a minimum, the best prac15 tices shall address preventing and deterring instances of 

16 undue pressure on or by an ODA unit member, within an 

17 ODA unit, or by an ODA holder, or instances of perceived 

18 regulatory coziness or other failures to maintain independ19 ence between the FAA and an ODA holder or ODA unit 

20 member. In carrying out such review, the Panel shall— 

21 ‘‘(1) examine other government regulated indus22 tries to gather lessons learned, procedures, or proc23 esses that address undue pressure of employees, per24 ceived regulatory coziness, or other failures to main25 tain independence; 


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1 ‘‘(2) identify ways to improve communications 

2 between an ODA unit, ODA unit members, and 

3 FAA engineers and inspectors, in order to enable di4 rect communication of technical concerns that arise 

5 during a certification project without fear of reprisal 

6 to the ODA unit or ODA unit member; and 

7 ‘‘(3) examine the FAA Designee Program, in8 cluding the assignment of FAA advisors to des9 ignees, to determine which components of the pro10 gram may improve the FAA’s oversight of ODA 

11 units, ODA unit members, and the ODA program.’’; 

12 (4) in subsection (d) (as redesignated by para13 graph (2))— 

14 (A) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘and’’ 

15 after the semicolon at the end; 

16 (B) in paragraph (6), by striking the pe17 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

18 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

19 ‘‘(7) the results of the review conducted under 

20 subsection (c).’’; and 

21 (5) by inserting after subsection (g) (as redesig22 nated by paragraph (2)), the following: 

23 ‘‘(h) BEST PRACTICES ADOPTION.— 

24 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 

25 not later than 180 days after the date on which the 


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1 Administrator receives the report required under 

2 subsection (e), the Administrator shall establish best 

3 practices for all ODA holders and require such prac4 tices to be incorporated into each ODA holder’s ap5 proved procedures manual. 

6 ‘‘(2) NOTICE AND COMMENT PERIOD.—The Ad7 ministrator shall publish the established best prac8 tices for public notice and comment for not fewer 

9 than 60 days prior to requiring the practices be in10 corporated into each ODA holder’s approved proce11 dures manual. 

12 ‘‘(i) SUNSET.—The Panel shall terminate on the ear13 lier of— 

14 ‘‘(1) the date of submission of the report under 

15 subsection (e); or 

16 ‘‘(2) the date that is 2 years after the date on 

17 which the Panel is first convened under subsection 

18 (a).’’. 

19 (b) PROCEDURES MANUAL.—Section 44736(b)(3) of 

20 title 49, United States Code, is amended— 

21 (1) in subparagraph (E), by striking ‘‘and’’ 

22 after the semicolon at the end; 

23 (2) in subparagraph (F), by striking the period 

24 at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

25 (3) by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(G) ensure the ODA holders procedures 

2 manual contains procedures and policies based 

3 on best practices established by the Adminis4 trator of the FAA to mitigate undue pressure 

5 and regulatory coziness or other failures to 

6 maintain independence.’’. 

7 SEC. 6. REVIEW OF HUMAN FACTORS ASSUMPTIONS. 

8 (a) HUMAN FACTORS IN CERTIFICATION.—Not later 

9 than 60 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the 

10 Administrator shall initiate a review and may, after such 

11 review and as necessary, revise existing regulations and 

12 policies, including but not limited to sections 25.1302, 

13 25.1309, and 25.1322 of title 14, Code of Federal Regula14 tions, to integrate and emphasize human factors and 

15 human system integration, particularly those related to 

16 pilot and aircraft interfaces. 

17 (b) REVIEW.—In carrying out subsection (a), the Ad18 ministrator shall— 

19 (1) review existing assumptions on pilot rec20 ognition and response as part of the certification 

21 process; 

22 (2) validate such assumptions with applicable 

23 human factors research, and as necessary modify the 

24 existing assumptions; 


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1 (3) ensure that when carrying out the certifi2 cation of a new aircraft type, including a supple3 mental or amended type, the cumulative impact that 

4 new technologies may have on pilot response are 

5 properly assessed; and 

6 (4) ensure that any action carried out under 

7 this subsection accounts for the necessary adjust8 ments to pilot training needs. 

9 (c) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after com10 pleting the review required under subsection (a), the Ad11 ministrator shall submit a report to the appropriate com12 mittees of Congress detailing the results of the review and 

13 what revisions or other changes were made as a result of 

14 such review. 

15 SEC. 7. HUMAN FACTORS RESEARCH PLAN. 

16 (a) HUMAN FACTORS RESEARCH PLAN.—Not later 

17 than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 

18 the Administrator, in consultation with aircraft manufac19 turers, operators, and pilots, and in coordination with the 

20 Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Ad21 ministration, shall develop a research plan to address the 

22 integration of human factors in the design and certifi23 cation of transport category aircraft. 

24 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—In developing the research 

25 plan under subsection (a), the Administrator shall— 


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1 (1) establish goals for research and continuing 

2 education in areas of study relevant to advancing 

3 technology, improving design, engineering, and cer4 tification practices, and facilitating better under5 standing of human factors concepts in the context of 

6 the growing development and reliance on automation 

7 in aircraft operations; 

8 (2) take into consideration and leverage any ex9 isting or planned research that is conducted by or 

10 conducted in partnership with the FAA; and 

11 (3) focus on— 

12 (A) preventing a recurrence of the types of 

13 recent accidents that have involved large trans14 port category airplanes designed and manufac15 tured in the United States; and 

16 (B) increasingly complex aircraft systems 

17 and designs. 

18 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

19 are authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator 

20 such sums as may be necessary to carry out this section. 

21 SEC. 8. CERTIFICATION PILOT OPERATIONAL EVALUA22 TIONS. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 

24 date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall re25 vise existing policies for manufacturers of large transport 


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1 category airplanes that are expected to be operated for 

2 passenger air transportation under part 121 of title 14, 

3 Code of Federal Regulations, to ensure that pilot oper4 ational evaluations for airplanes that are in the process 

5 of being certified use pilots from foreign and domestic air 

6 carriers that are expected to operate such airplanes. 

7 (b) REQUIREMENT.—The air carrier pilots used for 

8 such evaluations shall include a representative sample of 

9 such carriers’ pilots with respect to levels of experience. 

10 SEC. 9. REVIEW OF FAA CERTIFICATION EXPERTISE. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after the 

12 date of enactment of this Act, and without duplicating any 

13 recently completed or ongoing reviews, the Administrator 

14 shall initiate a review of— 

15 (1) the inspectors, engineers, managers, and ex16 ecutives in the FAA who are responsible for the cer17 tification of the design, manufacture, and operation 

18 of transport category aircraft for purposes of deter19 mining whether the FAA has the expertise and capa20 bility to adequately understand the safety implica21 tions of, and oversee the adoption of, new or innova22 tive technologies, materials, and procedures that de23 signers and manufacturers of such aircraft may 

24 adopt or introduce; and 


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1 (2) the Chief Scientific and Technical Advisors 

2 program to determine whether the program should 

3 be enhanced or expanded to bolster and support the 

4 FAA’s aircraft certification and safety programs, 

5 particularly with respect to understanding the safety 

6 implications of new or innovative technologies, mate7 rials, and procedures, that designers and manufac8 turers of such aircraft may adopt or introduce. 

9 (b) OUTSIDE EXPERTS PERMITTED.—The Adminis10 trator may use experts outside of the FAA to conduct or 

11 assist in the review required by subsection (a). 

12 (c) DEADLINE FOR COMPLETION.—Not later than 

13 270 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Ad14 ministrator shall complete the review required by sub15 section (a). 

16 (d) BRIEFING.—Not later than 30 days after the 

17 completion of the review required by subsection (a), the 

18 Administrator shall brief the appropriate committees of 

19 Congress on the results of the review and any other related 

20 review. The briefing shall include the following: 

21 (1) An analysis of the FAA’s ability to hire 

22 safety inspectors, engineers, managers, executives, 

23 scientists, and technical advisors, who have the req24 uisite expertise to oversee new developments in aero25 space design and manufacturing. 


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1 (2) A plan for the FAA to improve the overall 

2 expertise of the FAA’s personnel who are responsible 

3 for the oversight of the design and manufacture of 

4 transport category aircraft. 

5 (3) Recommendations for such legislation, if 

6 any, as the Administrator determines necessary to 

7 carry out the plan required under paragraph (2). 

Æ 


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