I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 6850 

To improve technology and address human factors in aviation safety, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 19, 2023 

Mr. DESAULNIER (for himself, Ms. NORTON, and Ms. TITUS) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation 

and Infrastructure, and in addition to the Committee on Science, Space, 

and Technology, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 

Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 

the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To improve technology and address human factors in aviation 

safety, 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 ‘‘Safe Landings Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

6 Congress finds the following: 

7 (1) Given that the United States enjoys an ex8 ceptionally safe aviation system with an exceedingly 


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1 low frequency of airline accidents, efforts to improve 

2 aviation safety should examine nonaccident safety 

3 incidents for all possible insights. 

4 (2) Aviation safety should not be taken for 

5 granted, and even with so few accidents, the U.S. 

6 Aerospace System should proactively address safety 

7 concerns that emerge from our dynamic and evolving 

8 economic conditions, technology, aviation industry, 

9 and other factors. 

10 (3) Preventing accidents from occurring in the 

11 airport runway environment remains an objective re12 quiring continued effort, and incidents of runway 

13 confusion, defined as the subset of runway incur14 sions in which an aircraft unintentionally takes off 

15 or lands on a taxiway or incorrect runway, should be 

16 carefully monitored, reviewed, and studied for in17 sights to improve safety. 

18 (4) While technology continues to advance and 

19 new opportunities to use technology to address safe20 ty risks in aviation are examined and pursued, the 

21 evolving role of technology and the expanding use of 

22 automation should not be used as justification to di23 minish attention to and prioritization of the human 

24 contribution to aviation safety. The aviation industry 

25 and the Government must ensure that training proVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:36 Jan 05, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6850.IH H6850

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1 grams for flight crews and other personnel are ap2 propriately evolving, that training standards and ex3 pectations remain rigorous, and that risks and con4 cerns associated with the interaction between hu5 mans, technology, and automated systems are identi6 fied, studied, and addressed in a timely manner. 

7 SEC. 3. IMPLEMENTATION OF NTSB RECOMMENDATIONS. 

8 (a) NTSB RECOMMENDATION.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall im10 plement the recommendation of the National Trans11 portation Safety Board numbered as A–18–25 and 

12 issued on October 11, 2018, and, not later than 1 

13 year after the enactment of this Act, the Adminis14 trator shall issue to Congress a report on the status 

15 of the implementation. 

16 (2) CONSIDERATION.—In implementing this 

17 recommendation, the Administrator shall consider 

18 any relevant findings identified pursuant to section 

19 334 of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 (Pub20 lic Law 115–254). 

21 (b) PILOT ALERTS.—The Administrator shall— 

22 (1) collaborate with aircraft and avionics manu23 facturers, labor organizations representing pilots op24 erating under part 121 of title 14, Code of Federal 

25 Regulations, and software developers to develop the 


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1 technology for a cockpit system that provides an 

2 alert to pilots when an airplane is not aligned with 

3 the intended runway surface; 

4 (2) once such technology described in para5 graph (1) is available, establish a requirement for 

6 the technology to be installed on aircraft operating 

7 under part 121 of title 14, Code of Federal Regula8 tions, landing at airports within Class B and Class 

9 C airspace and certified under part 139 of title 14, 

10 Code of Federal Regulations; 

11 (3) in establishing the requirement as described 

12 in paragraph (2), consider any relevant findings 

13 identified pursuant to section 334 of the FAA Reau14 thorization Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–254); and 

15 (4) not later than 1 year after the date of en16 actment of this Act, issue to Congress a report on 

17 the progress of the work described in paragraph (1). 

18 SEC. 4. INVESTIGATIONS FOR COVERED EVENTS. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Once implementation of section 

20 3(a) of this Act is complete, the National Transportation 

21 Safety Board may initiate investigations of covered events 

22 to determine risk factors specific to the airport at which 

23 such an event occurred and other elements of the National 

24 Airspace System that may contribute to the cause of the 

25 event. The National Transportation Safety Board may 


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1 also elect to consider multiple events in a single report 

2 as part of a special investigation or study to examine safe3 ty factors contributing to these events. 

4 (b) CONTENT.—The review and analysis shall exam5 ine factors present at the time of any covered event at 

6 such airport, including— 

7 (1) challenges pilots perceive when flying into 

8 and out of the airport; 

9 (2) challenges that air traffic controllers face 

10 when working at the airport; 

11 (3) characteristics of the communications 

12 among and between groups of personnel whose work 

13 relates to the movement of aircraft into and out of 

14 the airport including pilots, air traffic controllers, 

15 maintenance workers, dispatchers, and airline air16 port operations personnel; and 

17 (4) physical characteristics of the airport and 

18 its facilities, such as the configuration of runways, 

19 taxiways, runway lighting, and construction activity. 

20 (c) PROTECTION OF INFORMATION.—Individuals in21 volved in any manner in an investigation described in this 

22 section may request that the Board take such action as 

23 appropriate to protect from public disclosure any informa24 tion that readily identifies such individual. The Board may 

25 withhold the information if the Board determines that the 


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1 information may be withheld under an exemption under 

2 section 552 of title 5, United States Code, and the publica3 tion of such information is not in the public interest. 

4 SEC. 5. STUDY ON HUMAN FACTORS AND AVIATION SAFETY. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The National Academies of 

6 Science, Engineering, and Medicine shall, in collaboration 

7 with other relevant Federal institutions and agencies, con8 duct a study on the role of human factors in high-risk 

9 professions, including aviation. 

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

11 of enactment of this Act, the National Academies shall 

12 submit to the Committee on Transportation and Infra13 structure and Committee on Education and Workforce of 

14 the House of Representatives and the Committee on Com15 merce, Science, and Transportation and the Committee on 

16 Health, Education, Labor and Pensions of the Senate a 

17 report on the results of the study required under sub18 section (a), including best practices that can be imple19 mented across all high-risk professions, including within 

20 the aviation industry, to reduce risk involved with human 

21 factors. 

22 SEC. 6. TASK FORCE ON HUMAN FACTORS IN AVIATION 

23 SAFETY. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months after the 

25 date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the 


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1 Federal Aviation Administration shall convene a task force 

2 on human factors in aviation safety (in this section re3 ferred to as the ‘‘Task Force’’). 

4 (b) COMPOSITION.—The Task Force shall consist of 

5 members appointed by the Administrator and having ex6 pertise in an operational or academic discipline that is rel7 evant to the analysis of human errors in aviation. The 

8 number of members shall be determined by the Adminis9 trator to ensure sufficient representation of relevant oper10 ational and academic disciplines. 

11 (c) DURATION.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Members of the Task Force 

13 shall be appointed for the length of the existence of 

14 the Task Force. 

15 (2) LENGTH OF EXISTENCE.— 

16 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Task Force shall 

17 have an initial length of existence of 2 years. 

18 (B) OPTION.—The Administrator may ex19 ercise an option to lengthen the duration of the 

20 existence of the Task Force for a period of 2 

21 years. 

22 (d) DISCIPLINES.—For purposes of subsection (b), 

23 disciplines may include air carrier operations, line pilot ex24 pertise, air traffic control, technical operations, aero25 nautical information, aircraft maintenance and mechanics 


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1 psychology, linguistics, human-machine integration, gen2 eral aviation operations, and organizational behavior and 

3 culture. 

4 (e) EXPERTISE.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—No less than half of the 

6 members shall have expertise in aviation. 

7 (2) ADDITIONAL EXPERTISE.—The Task Force 

8 shall include members with expertise on human fac9 tors but whose experience and training are not in 

10 aviation specifically and who have not previously 

11 been engaged in work related to the Federal Avia12 tion Administration or the aviation industry. The 

13 Task Force shall also include pilot labor organiza14 tions, certificated mechanic labor organizations, and 

15 the exclusive bargaining representative of the air 

16 traffic controllers certified under section 7111 of 

17 title 5, United States Code. 

18 (f) FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION MEM19 BERS.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not more than 4 members 

21 may be employees of the Federal Aviation Adminis22 tration and National Transportation Safety Board, 

23 excluding representatives of the labor representatives 

24 of employees of the air traffic control system. Not 

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1 tional Transportation Safety Board. The Federal 

2 Aviation Administration and the National Transpor3 tation Safety Board members shall be non-voting. 

4 (2) FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION EM5 PLOYEES.—Any member who is an Federal Aviation 

6 Administration employee shall have expertise in safe7 ty. 

8 (g) DUTIES.—In coordination with the Research, En9 gineering, and Development Advisory Committee estab10 lished under section 44508 of title 49, United States Code, 

11 the Task Force shall— 

12 (1) not later than the date on which the Task 

13 Force is no longer in existence, produce a written re14 port that— 

15 (A) to the greatest extent possible, identi16 fies the most significant human factors and the 

17 relative contribution of such factors to aviation 

18 safety risk; 

19 (B) identifies new research priorities for 

20 research in human factors in aviation safety; 

21 (C) reviews existing products by other 

22 working groups related to human factors in 

23 aviation safety including the Commercial Avia24 tion Safety Team (CAST)’s work pertaining to 

25 flight crew responses to abnormal events; 


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1 (D) provides recommendations on potential 

2 revisions to any Federal Aviation Administra3 tion regulations and guidance pertaining to the 

4 certification of aircraft under part 25 of title 

5 14, Code of Federal Regulations, including sec6 tions related to presumed pilot response times 

7 and assumptions about the reliability of pilot 

8 performance during unexpected, stressful 

9 events; 

10 (E) reviews rules, regulations, or standards 

11 regarding flight crew rest and fatigue, as well 

12 as maintenance personnel rest and fatigue, that 

13 are used by a sample of international air car14 riers, including those deemed to be more strin15 gent and less stringent than the current stand16 ards pertaining to United States air carriers, 

17 and identify risks to the National Airspace Sys18 tem from any such variation in standards 

19 across countries; 

20 (F) reviews pilot training requirements and 

21 recommend any revisions necessary to ensure 

22 adequate understanding of automated systems 

23 on aircraft; 


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1 (G) reviews approach and landing mis2 alignment and make any recommendations for 

3 improving these events; 

4 (H) identifies ways to enhance instrument 

5 landing system maintenance schedules as well 

6 as other relevant technology systems that facili7 tate safe landings that are jointly used by air 

8 traffic controllers, pilots, and Federal Aviation 

9 Administration technicians, determines how a 

10 real-time smart system should be developed that 

11 informs the Air Traffic Control System, Air12 lines, and Airports about any changes in the 

13 state of runway and taxiway lights, and identi14 fies how this system could be connected to the 

15 Federal Aviation Administration’s maintenance 

16 system; 

17 (I) analyzes, with respect to human errors 

18 related to aviation safety of part 121 air car19 riers— 

20 (i) fatigue and distraction during crit21 ical phases of work among pilots or other 

22 aviation personnel; 

23 (ii) tasks and workload; 

24 (iii) organizational culture; 

25 (iv) communication among personnel; 


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1 (v) adherence to safety procedures; 

2 (vi) mental fitness of personnel; and 

3 (vii) any other relevant factors that 

4 affect human performance or are the cause 

5 or potential cause of human error related 

6 to aviation safety; 

7 (J) includes a tabulation of the number of 

8 accidents, incidents, or aviation safety database 

9 entries received in which an item identified 

10 under subparagraph (I) was a cause or poten11 tial cause of human error related to aviation 

12 safety; and 

13 (K) includes a list of causes or potential 

14 causes of human error related to aviation safety 

15 about which the Administrator believes addi16 tional information is needed; and 

17 (2) if the Secretary exercises the option de18 scribed in subsection (c)(2)(B), not later than the 

19 date that is 2 years after the date of establishment 

20 of the Task Force, produce an interim report con21 taining the information described in paragraph (1). 

22 (h) METHODOLOGY.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—To complete the report 

24 under subparagraphs (I) through (K) of subsection 

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1 tional Transportation Safety Board and use all 

2 available data compiled and analysis conducted on 

3 safety incidents and irregularities collected during 

4 the relevant fiscal years from the following: 

5 (A) Flight Operations Quality Assurance. 

6 (B) Aviation Safety Action Program. 

7 (C) Aviation Safety Information Analysis 

8 and Sharing. 

9 (D) The Aviation Safety Reporting Sys10 tem. 

11 (E) Aviation safety recommendations and 

12 investigation findings of the National Transpor13 tation Safety Board. 

14 (F) Other relevant programs or sources. 

15 (2) PROTECTION OF INFORMATION.—The Task 

16 Force shall ensure that any data described in para17 graph (1) has strong protections to protect employ18 ees from data being used to undertake punitive 

19 measures against the employee or personal liability. 

20 (i) APPLICABLE LAW.—Section 1013 of title 5, 

21 United States Code, shall not apply to the Task Force. 


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1 SEC. 7. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM ON NEW 

2 APPROACHES TO DATA ANALYSIS FOR AVIA3 TION SAFETY. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish a 

5 new research and development program to be undertaken 

6 by the FAA’s Consortium in Aviation Operations Research 

7 (NEXTOR III) to investigate and develop new approaches 

8 to data analysis for understanding the factors in aviation 

9 safety incidents and identifying emerging risks of future 

10 safety incidents. 

11 (b) APPROACHES.—The approaches described in sub12 section (a) include the use of new algorithms for analyzing 

13 the text and audio of communications between flight crews 

14 and air traffic controllers and the use of machine learning 

15 or artificial intelligence methods for analyzing a variety 

16 of data sets, including, data on weather, performance of 

17 communication, navigation and surveillance equipment 

18 and facilities, flight delays, safety incidents, flight crew 

19 work schedules, and air traffic and crew member commu20 nications for detecting anomalies in the National Airspace 

21 System. 

22 (c) COLLABORATION.—In carrying out the research 

23 program established in this section, member institutions 

24 of the Consortium shall collaborate in the sharing of data 

25 for the purpose of testing and demonstrating the potential 

26 effectiveness of new approaches to analysis— 


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1 (1) with each other; 

2 (2) with aviation industry partners; 

3 (3) with units within the FAA including groups 

4 within the Air Traffic Organization, NextGen Office, 

5 Office of Airports, and Aviation Safety; and 

6 (4) with the National Aeronautics and Space 

7 Administration’s Aviation Safety Reporting System. 

8 (d) RESEARCH.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—The research undertaken 

10 pursuant to this section shall prioritize under11 standing the ways that various forms of human fac12 tors contribute to aviation safety risk. 

13 (2) FACTORS.—The factors described in para14 graph (1) may include fatigue and distraction during 

15 critical phases of work among pilots or other avia16 tion personnel, tasks and workload, organizational 

17 structure and culture, communication among per18 sonnel, adherence to safety procedures, and any 

19 other relevant factors that are the cause or potential 

20 cause of human error in aviation operations. 

21 (3) HIGHLY AUTOMATED AIRCRAFT.—Research 

22 should seek ways to improve the design of highly 

23 automated aircraft to reduce instances of mode con24 fusion and to combat problems of reduced awareness 


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1 of basic flight parameters resulting from compla2 cency about automated systems. 

3 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

4 authorized to be appropriated $20,000,000 for carrying 

5 out the program described in this section for each fiscal 

6 year from 2024 through 2029, including grants to partici7 pating research institutions, including the academic insti8 tutions that make up the FAA’s Consortium in Aviation 

9 Operations Research (NEXTOR III), the National Aero10 nautics and Space Administration, the FAA’s Office of 

11 Safety, the NextGen office, and units within the FAA’s 

12 Air Traffic Organization that work on safety issues. 

13 (f) SUNSET.—The program shall terminate on the 

14 date that is 6 years after the date on which the program 

15 is established. 

16 SEC. 8. USING INSTRUMENT APPROACH PROCEDURES AS 

17 BACKUPS TO VISUAL APPROACHES. 

18 (a) REPORT.—Not later than 120 days after the date 

19 of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall issue a 

20 report to the Committee on Transportation and Infra21 structure of the House of Representatives and the Com22 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 

23 Senate that uses a representative sample of part 121 and 

24 part 129 air carriers to review the current range of air 

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1 proach procedures as a backup system for visual ap2 proaches and the extent to which operators require pilots 

3 to use approach procedures. 

4 (b) ISSUANCE OF GUIDANCE.—Not later than 1 year 

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

6 shall review and analyze the collected data from the report 

7 described in subsection (a) and issue guidance to air car8 riers on the most effective techniques and procedures to 

9 use instrument approach procedures as a backup system 

10 for visual approaches. Such guidance shall encourage the 

11 use of instruments to provide vertical and lateral guidance 

12 to mitigate the potential for a wrong surface alignment 

13 and to provide flight crews with more precise vertical and 

14 lateral deviation information. 

15 SEC. 9. NOTAM MODERNIZATION INITIATIVE. 

16 Section 2(c) of the NOTAM improvement Act of 

17 2023 (49 U.S.C. 40101 note) is amended— 

18 (1) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘; and’’ and 

19 inserting a semicolon; 

20 (2) by redesignating paragraph (4) as para21 graph (5); and 

22 (3) by inserting after paragraph (3) the fol23 lowing: 

24 ‘‘(4) collaborating with avionics manufacturers 

25 and software developers in considering hardware and 


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1 software for sending, assessing, and displaying 

2 NOTAMs; and’’. 

3 SEC. 10. GAO STUDY ON RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH THE USE 

4 OF CVR DATA IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Comptroller General shall 

6 take the lead in carrying out a study on the risks associ7 ated with the use of CVR data in investigations led by 

8 foreign governments or units of foreign governments. 

9 (b) CONTENTS.—At minimum, this study shall— 

10 (1) review past incidents in which CVR data 

11 was used by foreign governments or units of foreign 

12 governments in such a way that the National Trans13 portation Safety Board found to depart from the 

14 National Transportation Safety Board’s standards 

15 and procedures for a safety investigation, including 

16 the use or circulation of CVR data for purposes 

17 other than determining the causes of an accident or 

18 safety incident, inappropriate release of data con19 tained on a CVR, or the dissemination of informa20 tion or conclusions based on a misinterpretation of 

21 data contained on a CVR; 

22 (2) document the protections provided for cock23 pit voice recordings and transcripts by ICAO and 

24 other countries where United States-based air car25 riers operate; 


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1 (3) identify and assess the risks to United 

2 States flight crews, air carriers, manufacturers, and 

3 other stakeholders in the aviation industry associ4 ated with CVRs capable of recording more than 2 

5 hours of data; and 

6 (4) provide recommendations on measures to 

7 adopt to mitigate against such risks and ensure that 

8 any use of CVR data serves the sole purpose of a 

9 safety investigation, including recommendations for 

10 the United States to make to ICAO to mitigate 

11 these risks. 

12 SEC. 11. TRANSPARENCY IN AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE AND 

13 REPAIR WORK. 

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

15 date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall up16 date the guidelines of the FAA for part 121 certificate 

17 holders in implementing a Continuing Analysis and Sur18 veillance System (CASS) for their air carrier maintenance 

19 programs to include reporting no less than once every 6 

20 months by certificate holders to the FAA of any failure 

21 to follow procedures in aircraft maintenance as well as any 

22 major alteration, complete overhaul, or repair of mechan23 ical irregularities of each airframe, engine, propeller, and 

24 appliance. 


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

2 of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall issue an 

3 advisory with formatting guidelines for air carriers to re4 port information as required under subsection (a). 

5 (c) INCLUSION.—For each instance of a failure to fol6 low procedures and for each major alteration, overhaul, 

7 or repair reported under the requirements of this section, 

8 the Administrator shall require certificate holders to in9 clude any name and any physical address where the work 

10 is carried out for each maintenance provider that performs 

11 work. 

12 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the terms ‘‘major 

13 alterations’’, ‘‘airframe’’, ‘‘propeller’’, and ‘‘appliance’’ 

14 have the meanings given such terms in part 1 of title 14, 

15 Code of Federal Regulations. 

16 SEC. 12. REVIEW OF FAA’S AVIATION SAFETY INSPECTION 

17 PROGRAM. 

18 (a) AUDIT BY THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPOR19 TATION INSPECTOR GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months 

20 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Inspector Gen21 eral of the Department of Transportation shall initiate a 

22 review of the FAA’s August 2017 Flight Standards reor23 ganization and its aviation safety inspection program. 

24 (b) REVIEW.—The review shall include an evaluation 

25 of— 


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1 (1) the FAA Flight Standards reorganization 

2 from a geographic-based system to a functional3 based system; 

4 (2) the implementation of the FAA’s Compli5 ance Philosophy as it relates to safety inspections 

6 and enforcements; 

7 (3) the FAA’s oversight system known as the 

8 Safety Assurance System (SAS); 

9 (4) training for aviation safety inspector and 

10 operational research analysts on the Compliance 

11 Philosophy and SAS; and 

12 (5) the impact of the FAA’s reorganization and 

13 SAS on the FAA’s ability to produce reliable esti14 mates of aviation safety inspector and operational 

15 research analyst staffing needs. 

16 (c) REPORT.—The Inspector General shall submit to 

17 the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of 

18 the House of Representatives and the Committee on Com19 merce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate a report 

20 on the results of its review and any recommendations to 

21 improve the aviation safety inspection program of the 

22 FAA. 


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1 SEC. 13. REVIEW OF ICAO BEST AVAILABLE TECHNOLOGIES 

2 AND STANDARDS. 

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

4 a study on the International Civil Aviation Organization’s 

5 best available technologies and standards. 

6 (b) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 1 year 

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

8 shall submit to Congress a report containing the timeline 

9 for the Federal Aviation Administrator to adopt the best 

10 available technologies and standards studied under sub11 section (a) and, if the Administrator determines the Ad12 ministrator will not adopt any such technologies or stand13 ards, a justification as to the reason for not adopting. 

14 SEC. 14. WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTIONS AUDIT. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 4 years after the 

16 date of enactment of this Act, the inspector general of the 

17 Department of Transportation shall conduct an audit of— 

18 (1) existing whistleblower protections and 

19 standards and practices in place for the aviation in20 dustry; and 

21 (2) the whistleblower program of the Federal 

22 Aviation Administration, including how such pro23 gram has evolved since the most recent audit by the 

24 inspector general and whether there are any short25 comings or challenges for the program. 


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1 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the publi2 cation of the results of the audit under subsection (a), the 

3 Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration 

4 shall submit to the relevant committees of jurisdiction of 

5 Congress a report on the implementation plan for any rec6 ommendations from such audit and any reasons for not 

7 implementing any recommendation for which the Adminis8 trator will not implement. 

9 SEC. 15. TWO PILOT RULE. 

10 Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment 

11 of this Act, the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Ad12 ministration shall issue such regulations as are necessary 

13 to require that all part 121 air carriers providing air 

14 transportation of passengers or cargo require a minimum 

15 of 2 pilots in the cockpit for any flight carrying such pas16 sengers or cargo. 

17 SEC. 16. FLIGHT SAFETY INFORMATION PROTECTION. 

18 Section 40123 of title 49, United States Code, is 

19 amended by adding at the end the following: 

20 ‘‘(c) FLIGHT SAFETY INFORMATION PROTECTION.— 

21 The Administrator may not disclose under this section 

22 flight safety information, including flight safety informa23 tion voluntarily reported by Federal Aviation Administra24 tion employees, and data provided from flight data record25 ers, service difficulty recorders, accident and incident data 


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1 systems, airline required crew narrative reports and sum2 maries, ADS–B, aircraft communication addressing and 

3 reporting systems, and ATC voice communications and re4 corded radar data.’’. 

5 SEC. 17. KNOWLEDGE SAFETY EXPERTS. 

6 The Administrator shall take such actions as are nec7 essary to ensure that any advisory committee of the Fed8 eral Aviation Administration that provides recommenda9 tions on topics that relate to or impact the safety of pas10 sengers, aircraft, crew members, ground crew, airports, or 

11 any other safety aspect have representation from knowl12 edge safety experts in addition to representation from 

13 trade industry experts. 

14 SEC. 18. TRANSPARENCY IN AVIATION INDUSTRY. 

15 The Administrator shall take such actions as are nec16 essary to ensure that air carriers and other persons pro17 viding air transportation are prohibited from hiding infor18 mation determined to be important by the Administrator 

19 in any investigation regarding aircraft incidents, including 

20 incidents that result in death or injury. 

21 SEC. 19. DEFINITIONS. 

22 In this Act: 

23 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis24 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Federal 

25 Aviation Administration. 


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1 (2) COVERED EVENT.—The term ‘‘covered 

2 event’’ means— 

3 (A) a category A or B runway incursion, 

4 as defined in Order 7050.1B of the Federal 

5 Aviation Administration (dated November 3, 

6 2013); 

7 (B) a landing on a taxiway, incorrect run8 way, or other area not designed as a runway at 

9 a public-use airport on land; 

10 (C) descent by an aircraft below 300 feet 

11 above ground level on approach to a taxiway, 

12 incorrect runway, or other area not designed as 

13 a runway at a public-use airport on land; or 

14 (D) a landing by an aircraft notwith15 standing an instruction by air traffic control 

16 that the aircraft perform a missed approach or 

17 go-around. 

18 (3) FAA.—The term ‘‘FAA’’ means the Fed19 eral Aviation Administration. 

20 (4) PART 121 AIR CARRIER.—The term ‘‘part 

21 121 air carrier’’ means an air carrier that holds a 

22 certificate issued under part 121 of title 14, Code of 

23 Federal Regulations. 

24 (5) PART 129 AIR CARRIER.—The term ‘‘part 

25 129 air carrier’’ means an air carrier that holds a 


ssavage on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
26 

•HR 6850 IH

1 certificate issued under part 129 of title 14, Code of 

2 Federal Regulations. 

Æ 


ssavage on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS