II 

Calendar No. 422 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3268 

To amend title 49, United States Code, to provide rights for pilots, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 6, 2012 

Mr. INHOFE (for himself and Mr. BEGICH) introduced the following bill; which 

was read the first time 

JUNE 7, 2012 

Read the second time and placed on the calendar 

A BILL 

To amend title 49, United States Code, to provide rights 

for pilots, 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 ‘‘Pilot’s Bill of Rights’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FAA ENFORCEMENT PROCEEDINGS AND ELIMI2 NATION OF DEFERENCE. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi4 sion of law, any proceeding conducted under subpart C 

5 or D and F of part 821 of title 49, Code of Federal Regu6 lations, relating to denial, amendment, modification, sus7 pension, or revocation of an airman certificate, shall be 

8 conducted in accordance with the Federal Rules of Civil 

9 Procedure and Federal Rules of Evidence, to the extent 

10 practicable. 

11 (b) ACCESS TO INFORMATION.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of the 

13 Federal Aviation Administration shall advise (in a 

14 timely manner and in writing) an individual who is 

15 the subject of an investigation relating to approval, 

16 denial, suspension, modification, or revocation of an 

17 airman certificate under chapter 447 of title 49, 

18 United States Code, of the following: 

19 (A) The nature of the investigation. 

20 (B) An oral or written response to a Letter 

21 of Investigation from the Administrator is not 

22 required. 

23 (C) No action or adverse inference can be 

24 taken against the individual for declining to re25 spond to a Letter of Investigation from the Ad26 ministrator. 


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1 (D) Any response to a Letter of Investiga2 tion from the Administrator or to an inquiry 

3 made by a representative of the Administrator 

4 by the individual may be used as evidence 

5 against the individual. 

6 (E) The releasable portions of the Admin7 istrator’s investigative report will be available to 

8 the individual. 

9 (2) ACCESS TO AIR TRAFFIC DATA.—The Ad10 ministrator of the Federal Aviation Administration 

11 shall provide (in a timely manner) an individual who 

12 is the subject of an investigation relating to ap13 proval, denial, suspension, modification, or revoca14 tion of an airman certificate under chapter 447 of 

15 title 49, United States Code, any air traffic data 

16 that would facilitate the individual’s ability to pro17 ductively participate in the investigation, including 

18 the following: 

19 (A) Relevant air traffic communication 

20 tapes. 

21 (B) Radar information. 

22 (C) Air traffic controller statements. 

23 (D) Flight data. 

24 (E) Investigative reports. 


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1 (F) Any other air traffic or flight data that 

2 would facilitate the individual’s ability to pro3 ductively participate in the investigation. 

4 (3) TIMING.—The Administrator shall not pro5 ceed against an individual that is the subject of an 

6 investigation described in paragraph (1) for at least 

7 30 days after the air traffic data required under 

8 paragraph (2) is made available to the individual. 

9 (c) AMENDMENTS TO TITLE 49.— 

10 (1) AIRMAN CERTIFICATES.—Section 

11 44703(d)(2) of title 49, United States Code, is 

12 amended by striking the second sentence and insert13 ing the following: ‘‘The Board is not bound by the 

14 findings of fact of the Administrator of the Federal 

15 Aviation Administration or the interpretation of laws 

16 or regulations the Administrator carries out, but 

17 may consider the interpretation and guidance of the 

18 Administrator in its review in accordance with the 

19 general administrative law principles of deference.’’. 

20 (2) AMENDMENTS, MODIFICATIONS, SUSPEN21 SIONS, AND REVOCATIONS OF CERTIFICATES.—Sec22 tion 44709(d)(3) of title 49, United States Code, is 

23 amended by striking ‘‘is not bound’’ and all that fol24 lows through the end period and inserting the fol25 lowing: ‘‘is not bound by the findings of fact of the 


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1 Administrator or the interpretation of laws or regu2 lations the Administrator carries out, but may con3 sider the interpretation and guidance of the Admin4 istrator in its review in accordance with the general 

5 administrative law principles of deference.’’. 

6 (3) REVOCATION OF AIRMAN CERTIFICATES

7 FOR CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE VIOLATIONS.—The 

8 third sentence of section 44710(d)(1) of title 49, 

9 United States Code, is amended in the third sen10 tence, by striking ‘‘is not bound’’ and all that follows 

11 through the end period, and inserting the following: 

12 ‘‘is not bound by findings of fact of the Adminis13 trator or the interpretation of laws or regulations 

14 the Administrator carries out, but may consider the 

15 interpretation and guidance of the Administrator in 

16 its review in accordance with the general administra17 tive law principles of deference.’’. 

18 (d) APPEAL FROM CERTIFICATE ACTIONS.—Upon 

19 an order or final decision by the Administrator of the Fed20 eral Aviation Administration denying an airman certificate 

21 under section 44703(d) of title 49, United States Code, 

22 or imposing a punitive civil action or an emergency order 

23 of revocation under section 44709 (d) and (e) of title 49, 

24 United States Code, the individual adversely affected by 

25 the Administrator’s action may, at the individual’s elecVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:34 Jun 07, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3268.PCS S3268

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1 tion, file an appeal in the United States district court in 

2 which the individual resides, in which the action in ques3 tion occurred, or in the district court for the District of 

4 Columbia. If the individual adversely affected by the Ad5 ministrator’s action elects not to file an appeal in a Fed6 eral district court, the individual may file an appeal with 

7 the National Transportation Safety Board. 

8 (e) STANDARD OF REVIEW.—In an appeal filed under 

9 subsection (d), the district court or the National Trans10 portation Safety Board, as the case may be, shall give full 

11 independent review of a denial, suspension, or revocation 

12 ordered by the Administrator, including substantive inde13 pendent and expedited review of any decision by the Ad14 ministrator to make the order effective immediately. 

15 SEC. 3. NOTAMS PROVIDED TO AIRMEN. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.— 

17 (1) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term 

18 ‘‘NOTAM’’ means notices to airmen. 

19 (2) IMPROVEMENTS.—Not later than 180 days 

20 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Ad21 ministrator of the Federal Aviation Administration 

22 shall begin a Notice to Airmen Improvement Pro23 gram (in this section referred to as the ‘‘NOTAM 

24 Improvement Program’’) to— 


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1 (A) improve the system of providing air2 men with pertinent and timely information re3 garding the national airspace system; 

4 (B) to archive, in a public central location, 

5 all notices to airmen, including the original con6 tent and form of the notices, the original date 

7 of publication, and any amendments to such no8 tices with the date of each amendment; and 

9 (C) apply filters so that pilots can 

10 prioritize critical flight safety information from 

11 other airspace system information. 

12 (b) GOALS OF PROGRAM.—The goals of the NOTAM 

13 Improvement Program are to— 

14 (1) decrease the overwhelming volume of 

15 NOTAMS an airman receives when retrieving air16 man information prior to a flight in the national air17 space system; 

18 (2) make the NOTAMS more specific and rel19 evant to the airman’s route and in a format that is 

20 more useable to the airman; 

21 (3) provide both a full set of NOTAM results 

22 in addition to specific information requested by air23 men; 

24 (4) provide a document that is easily search25 able; and 


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1 (5) provide a filtering mechanism similar to 

2 that provided by the Department of Defense Notices 

3 to Airmen. 

4 (c) ADVICE FROM PRIVATE SECTOR GROUPS.—The 

5 Administrator shall establish a NOTAM Improvement 

6 Panel, consisting of relevant nonprofit and not-for-profit 

7 general aviation pilot groups, to advise the Administrator 

8 in carrying out the goals of the Program under this sec9 tion. 

10 (d) PHASE-IN AND COMPLETION.—The improve11 ments required by this section shall be phased in as quick12 ly as practicable and shall be completed not later than the 

13 date that is 1 year after the date of the enactment of this 

14 Act. 

15 SEC. 4. FLIGHT SERVICE STATION BRIEFINGS. 

16 The Flight Service Station briefings and other air 

17 traffic services performed by Lockheed Martin or any 

18 other government contractor shall be available to airmen 

19 under the section 522 of title 5, United States Code (com20 monly known as the ‘‘Freedom of Information Act’’). 

21 SEC. 5. MEDICAL CERTIFICATION. 

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

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

24 the Federal Aviation Administration shall begin a review 


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1 of the Administration’s medical certification standards 

2 and forms in order to— 

3 (1) revise the medical application form to pro4 vide greater clarity and guidance to applicants; and 

5 (2) align medical qualification policies with 

6 present-day qualified medical judgment and prac7 tices as they may apply to an individual’s medically 

8 relevant circumstances; and 

9 (3) publish objective medical standards so that 

10 the public is fairly advised of the criteria that deter11 mines an airman’s medical certificate eligibility. 

12 (b) GOALS OF PROGRAM.—The goals of the review 

13 are to— 

14 (1) provide questions in the medical application 

15 form that— 

16 (A) are appropriate without being overly 

17 broad; 

18 (B) are subject to a minimum amount of 

19 misinterpretation and mistaken responses; 

20 (C) allow for consistent treatment and re21 sponses during the medical application process; 

22 and 

23 (D) avoid unnecessary allegations that an 

24 individual has intentionally falsified answers on 

25 the form; 


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1 (2) provide questions that elicit information 

2 that is relevant to making a determination of an in3 dividual’s medical qualifications within the standards 

4 identified in the Administrator’s regulations; 

5 (3) give medical standards greater meaning by 

6 ensuring the information requested aligns with 

7 present-day medical judgment and practices; and 

8 (4) provide that the application of those stand9 ards ensures an appropriate and fair evaluation of 

10 an individual’s qualifications, and that the individual 

11 understands the basis for determining medical quali12 fications. 

13 (c) ADVICE FROM PRIVATE SECTOR GROUPS.—The 

14 Administrator shall establish a panel, consisting of rel15 evant nonprofit and not-for-profit general aviation pilot 

16 groups, aviation medical examiners, and other qualified 

17 medical experts, to advise the Administrator in carrying 

18 out the goals of the review required by this section. 

19 (d) PHASE-IN AND COMPLETION.—The actions to re20 vise the medical application form, to align the medical 

21 qualification policies, and to publish objective medical 

22 standards shall be phased in as quickly as practicable and 

23 shall be completed not later than the date that is 1 year 

24 after the date of the enactment of this Act. 


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Calendar No. 422 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3268 

A BILL 

To amend title 49, United States Code, to provide 

rights for pilots, and for other purposes. 

JUNE 7, 2012 

Read the second time and placed on the calendar 


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