II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1072 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 23, 2013 

Ms. KLOBUCHAR (for herself, Ms. MURKOWSKI, Mr. MORAN, Mr. ROBERTS, 

Mr. JOHANNS, Mr. BEGICH, Mr. RISCH, Mr. UDALL of New Mexico, and 

Mr. TESTER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

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 makes the following findings: 


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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 countries around the world. 

5 (2) Small airplanes comprise nearly 90 percent 

6 of general aviation aircraft certified by the Federal 

7 Aviation Administration. 

8 (3) General aviation provides for the cultivation 

9 of a workforce of engineers, manufacturing and 

10 maintenance professionals, and pilots who secure the 

11 economic success and defense of the United States. 

12 (4) General aviation contributes to well-paying 

13 jobs in the manufacturing and technology sectors in 

14 the United States and products produced by those 

15 sectors are exported in great numbers. 

16 (5) Technology developed and proven in general 

17 aviation aids in the success and safety of all sectors 

18 of aviation and scientific competence. 

19 (6) The average small airplane in the United 

20 States is now 40 years old and the regulatory bar21 riers to bringing new designs to the market are re22 sulting in a lack of innovation and investment in 

23 small airplane design. 


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1 (7) Since 2003, the United States lost 10,000 

2 active private pilots per year on average, partially 

3 due to a lack of cost-effective, new small airplanes. 

4 (8) General aviation safety can be improved by 

5 modernizing and revamping the regulations relating 

6 to small airplanes to clear the path for technology 

7 adoption and cost-effective means to retrofit the ex8 isting fleet with new safety technologies. 

9 SEC. 3. SAFETY AND REGULATORY IMPROVEMENTS FOR 

10 GENERAL AVIATION. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than December 15, 

12 2015, the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Adminis13 tration shall issue a final rule— 

14 (1) to advance the safety and continued devel15 opment of small airplanes by reorganizing the cer16 tification requirements for such airplanes under part 

17 23 to streamline the approval of safety advance18 ments; and 

19 (2) that meets the objectives described in sub20 section (b). 

21 (b) OBJECTIVES DESCRIBED.—The objectives de22 scribed in this subsection are the following objectives of 

23 the Part 23 Reorganization Aviation Rulemaking Com24 mittee: 


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1 (1) The establishment of a regulatory regime 

2 for small airplanes that will improve safety and de3 crease certification costs. 

4 (2) The establishment of broad, outcome-driven 

5 safety objectives that will spur innovation and tech6 nology adoption. 

7 (3) The replacement of current, prescriptive re8 quirements under part 23 with performance-based 

9 regulations. 

10 (4) The use of consensus standards accepted by 

11 the Federal Aviation Administration to clarify how 

12 the safety objectives of part 23 may be met using 

13 specific designs and technologies. 

14 (c) CONSENSUS-BASED STANDARDS.—In prescribing 

15 regulations under this section, the Administrator shall use 

16 consensus standards, as described in section 12(d) of the 

17 National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 

18 1996 (15 U.S.C. 272 note), to the extent practicable while 

19 continuing to evaluate traditional methods for meeting the 

20 objectives of part 23. 

21 (d) SAFETY COOPERATION.—The Administrator shall 

22 lead the effort to improve general aviation safety by work23 ing with leading aviation regulators to assist them in 

24 adopting a complementary regulatory approach for small 

25 airplanes. 


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1 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

2 (1) CONSENSUS STANDARDS.— 

3 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘consensus 

4 standards’’ means standards developed by an 

5 organization described in subparagraph (B) 

6 that may include provisions requiring that own7 ers of relevant intellectual property have agreed 

8 to make that intellectual property available on 

9 a nondiscriminatory, royalty-free, or reasonable 

10 royalty basis to all interested persons. 

11 (B) ORGANIZATIONS DESCRIBED.—An or12 ganization described in this subparagraph is a 

13 domestic or international organization that— 

14 (i) plans, develops, establishes, or co15 ordinates, through a process based on con16 sensus and using agreed-upon procedures, 

17 voluntary standards; and 

18 (ii) operates in a transparent manner, 

19 considers a balanced set of interests with 

20 respect to such standards, and provides for 

21 due process and an appeals process with 

22 respect to such standards. 

23 (2) GENERAL AVIATION.—The term ‘‘general 

24 aviation’’ means all aviation activities other than 


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1 scheduled commercial air carrier operations and 

2 military aviation. 

3 (3) PART 23.—The term ‘‘part 23’’ means part 

4 23 of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations. 

5 (4) PART 23 REORGANIZATION AVIATION RULE6 MAKING COMMITTEE.—The term ‘‘Part 23 Reorga7 nization Aviation Rulemaking Committee’’ means 

8 the aviation rulemaking committee established by 

9 the Federal Aviation Administration in August 2011 

10 to consider the reorganization of the regulations 

11 under part 23. 

12 (5) SMALL AIRPLANE.—The term ‘‘small air13 plane’’ means an airplane to which part 23 applies. 

Æ 


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