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. 

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 ‘‘Amy and Jocelyn Gan5 non Helicopter Tour Safety Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis9 trator’’ means the Administrator of the FAA. 


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1 (2) COMMERCIAL AIR TOUR.—The term ‘‘com2 mercial air tour’’ has the meaning given that term 

3 in section 110.2 of title 14, Code of Federal Regula4 tions, as it applies to helicopters. 

5 (3) COMMERCIAL AIR TOUR OPERATOR.— 

6 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘commercial 

7 air tour operator’’ means any person, operating 

8 under part 91, 93, 121, 135, or 136 of title 14, 

9 Code of Federal Regulations, who conducts a 

10 commercial air tour. 

11 (B) CLARIFICATION.—The operations de12 scribed in subparagraph (A) include any oper13 ation under section 119.1(e)(1) of title 14, Code 

14 of Federal Regulations, provided that the oper15 ator of such operation has received and is in 

16 compliance with a Letter of Authorization 

17 issued under section 91.147 of title 14, Code of 

18 Federal Regulations. 

19 (4) FAA.—The term ‘‘FAA’’ means the Fed20 eral Aviation Administration. 

21 (5) IFR CONDITIONS.—The term ‘‘IFR condi22 tions’’ has the meaning given that term in section 

23 1.1 of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations. 

24 (6) NTSB.—The term ‘‘NTSB’’ means the Na25 tional Transportation Safety Board. 


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1 SEC. 3. REVIEW OF COMMERCIAL AIR TOUR ROUTES. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

3 date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall do 

4 the following: 

5 (1) Develop a process to review and approve 

6 any flight route used by a commercial air tour oper7 ator. 

8 (2) Update the operator manual content re9 quirements under part 135 of title 14, Code of Fed10 eral Regulations, as it relates to helicopter air tour 

11 operators, to require information about flight routes. 

12 (b) EVALUATION OF WEATHER DATA.—Not later 

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

14 the Administrator, in consultation with the National 

15 Weather Service, shall develop and implement the fol16 lowing: 

17 (1) A process to obtain and evaluate weather 

18 data to identify any flight route, or segment of a 

19 flight route, used by a commercial air tour operator 

20 that is susceptible to rapidly changing weather 

21 events. 

22 (2) Criteria to determine whether the frequency 

23 of such rapidly changing weather events on such 

24 flight route, or segment of such flight route, requires 

25 that a commercial air tour operator be prohibited 

26 from flying along any section of a flight route. 


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1 SEC. 4. FAA AVIATION WEATHER CAMERA PROGRAM. 

2 (a) WEATHER CAMERAS.—Not later than 90 days 

3 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator 

4 shall issue such regulations as are necessary to implement 

5 the following NTSB recommendations: 

6 (1) Safety Recommendation A–13–025, issued 

7 on August 15, 2013 (relating to initiating an avia8 tion weather camera program in Hawaii that in9 cludes the installation and maintenance of aviation 

10 weather cameras at critical locations in Hawaii and 

11 to establish public access to these aviation weather 

12 cameras’ real-time imagery). 

13 (2) Safety Recommendation A–13–026, issued 

14 on August 13, 2013 (relating to installing and main15 taining aviation weather cameras in those mountain 

16 passes in the continental United States identified as 

17 being high risk and to establish public access to 

18 these aviation weather cameras’ real-time imagery). 

19 (b) SURVEY OF WEATHER CAMERAS.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

21 the date of enactment of this Act and biennially 

22 thereafter, the Administrator shall survey the num23 ber and placement of any weather camera installed 

24 through the FAA’s Aviation Weather Camera Pro25 gram, or an equivalent State-sponsored program, to 


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1 determine whether there is sufficient weather cam2 era coverage. 

3 (2) REQUEST FOR ADDITIONAL RESOURCES.— 

4 If, as a result of the survey conducted pursuant to 

5 paragraph (1), the Administrator determines that 

6 additional funding for the installation or mainte7 nance of weather cameras is needed, the Adminis8 trator shall include that information in the FAA’s 

9 annual budget request to Congress. 

10 (c) TRAINING ON WEATHER CAMERAS.— 

11 (1) COMMERCIAL AIR TOUR OPERATOR TRAIN12 ING.—Not later than 2 years after the date of enact13 ment of this Act, the Administrator shall establish 

14 training requirements for each commercial air tour 

15 operator to utilize real-time weather information 

16 made available through the FAA’s Aviation Weather 

17 Camera Program, including— 

18 (A) using the information to determine 

19 whether it is safe to fly in any area of a flight 

20 route used by a commercial air tour operator 

21 that is susceptible to rapidly changing weather 

22 events; and 

23 (B) advising flight crew members on alter24 native flight routes or the need for an immeVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Oct 07, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4645.IS S4645

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1 diate landing when any rapidly changing weath2 er event develops or occurs. 

3 (2) FLIGHT SERVICE STATION SPECIALIST

4 TRAINING.—Not later than 90 days after the date of 

5 enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall ini6 tiate rulemaking to implement NTSB Safety Rec7 ommendation A–13–027, issued on August 15, 2013 

8 (relating to equipping the flight service station spe9 cialists responsible for Hawaii and the continental 

10 United States with the technical capabilities and 

11 training to provide verbal preflight and en route 

12 briefings using aviation weather camera imagery). 

13 SEC. 5. FLIGHT DATA MONITORING PROGRAM. 

14 Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment 

15 of this Act, the Administrator shall initiate rulemaking for 

16 such regulations as are necessary to implement the fol17 lowing NTSB recommendations, as they relate to heli18 copter air tour operators: 

19 (1) Safety Recommendation A–16–034, issued 

20 on November 3, 2016 (relating to requiring all 14 

21 Code of Federal Regulations Part 135 operators to 

22 install flight data recording devices capable of sup23 porting a flight data monitoring program). 

24 (2) Safety Recommendation A–16–035, issued 

25 on November 3, 2016 (relating to requiring all 14 


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1 Code of Federal Regulations Part 135 operators to 

2 establish a structured flight data monitoring pro3 gram that reviews all available data sources to iden4 tify deviations from established norms and proce5 dures and other potential safety issues, after action 

6 in Safety Recommendation A–16–034 is complete). 

7 SEC. 6. OPERATIONAL AND TRAINING REQUIREMENTS. 

8 (a) INSTRUMENT RATINGS.—Not later than 90 days 

9 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator 

10 shall initiate rulemaking to require any commercial air 

11 tour operator to use pilots who— 

12 (1) if applicable under part 61.65 of title 14, 

13 Code of Federal Regulations, hold instrument rat14 ings appropriate to the aircraft flown; or 

15 (2) hold an Airline Transport Pilot certificate 

16 appropriate to the category and class of aircraft 

17 flown, but which is not limited to Visual Flight 

18 Rules according to the requirements under sections 

19 61.57 and 61.65 of title 14, Code of Federal Regula20 tions. 

21 (b) IFR CONDITIONS COMPETENCY PROGRAM.—Not 

22 later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 

23 the Administrator shall initiate rulemaking to require any 

24 commercial air tour operator to establish an IFR condi25 tions competency program to allow pilots to maintain their 


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1 ability to operate a commercial air tour under IFR condi2 tions. 

3 SEC. 7. IFR CONDITIONS EQUIPMENT STUDY. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall conduct 

5 a study on the feasibility of requiring any helicopter used 

6 for a commercial air tour to be equipped with the min7 imum equipment necessary to operate in IFR conditions. 

8 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

9 of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall submit 

10 to Congress a report on the study conducted pursuant to 

11 subsection (a) together with recommendations for such 

12 legislation or administrative action as the Administrator 

13 determines to be appropriate. 

14 SEC. 8. COMMERCIAL AIR TOUR VIDEOS STUDY. 

15 (a) HELICOPTER MOUNTED VIDEO STUDY.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall con17 duct a study on the feasibility of permitting commer18 cial air tour operators or FAA inspectors to conduct 

19 random audits (that meet the requirements de20 scribed in paragraph (2)) of helicopter mounted vid21 eos of commercial air tour flights. 

22 (2) REQUIREMENT.—The requirement de23 scribed in this paragraph is that an audit address 

24 flight safety and commercial air tour operator per25 formance with respect to— 


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1 (A) safe flying techniques; and 

2 (B) the avoidance of— 

3 (i) dangerous terrain; and 

4 (ii) rapidly changing weather events. 

5 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

6 of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall submit 

7 to Congress a report on the study conducted pursuant to 

8 subsection (a) together with recommendations for such 

9 legislation or administrative action as the Administrator 

10 determines to be appropriate. 

11 SEC. 9. EXEMPTION FROM CERTAIN REGULATORY RE12 QUIREMENTS. 

13 Any rule or regulation promulgated by the Adminis14 trator pursuant to this Act— 

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

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

17 relating to reducing regulation and controlling regu18 latory costs); and 

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

20 forth in such Executive order. 

Æ 


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