I 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5890 

To conduct a study to ensure that enhanced communication is provided 

between commercial aircraft and air traffic control towers, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 2, 2015 

Ms. JACKSON LEE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To conduct a study to ensure that enhanced communication 

is provided between commercial aircraft and air traffic 

control towers, 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 The Act may be cited as the ‘‘No Missing Planes 

5 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. STUDY OF TECHNOLOGY TO IMPROVE COMMUNICA2 TION OF AIRCRAFT WITH AIR TRAFFIC CON3 TROL TOWERS. 

4 (a) STUDY.—The Administrator of the Federal Avia5 tion Administration shall complete a study which shall in6 clude— 

7 (1) the feasibility of providing communication 

8 from commercial aircraft to air traffic control towers 

9 when an aircraft leaves its flight plan or experiences 

10 dangerous or threatening conditions and pinpointing 

11 the location of an aircraft that is missing within 30 

12 minutes by disseminating the information globally in 

13 less than an hour to rescue and recovery agencies; 

14 (2) information on the possible transition of 

15 black boxes to telematics systems that routinely 

16 throughout a flight communicate the contents of 

17 black boxes to secure store faculties managed by the 

18 National Transportation Safety Board; 

19 (3) the investigation of the automation of data 

20 collection from aircraft while in flight and automate 

21 the transmission of data in such a way that the rate 

22 of transition is dependent on the speed of the air23 craft and the conditions under which it is being op24 erated (turbulence and faster speed would trigger 

25 more frequent uplink of data from the black boxes 

26 on the flight) the warehousing of data that estabVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:52 Jan 02, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5890.IH H5890

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1 lishes chain of custody for data if needed as the last 

2 official record of an aircraft, and the analysis of the 

3 data that is received to identify anomalous data; 

4 (4) the review of the availability of tamper 

5 proof transponders that cannot be turned off in 

6 flight and an alert if a transponder is tampered with 

7 while in flight; 

8 (5) the feasibility of securing transponders from 

9 being cloned or data being changed from the original 

10 designation that is assigned to the physical aircraft 

11 it is associated with and the proper safeguards to be 

12 sure that use of an assigned transponder identifica13 tion protocol by another aircraft is prohibited by de14 sign and the communication system and requisite 

15 protocols that will support the system, including a 

16 mechanism to investigate the ability to introduce 

17 transponder designations that are not assigned by 

18 aviation regulatory authorities; 

19 (6) the investigation of the means by which the 

20 United States could enforce that no airline operating 

21 in the United States or operate gates at an airport 

22 in the country may have communication technology 

23 that does not conform to domestic available commu24 nication technology standards; and 


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•HR 5890 IH

1 (7) the investigation of how quickly relevant 

2 statistical data on commercial aircraft can be shared 

3 with the Federal Aviation Administration, the De4 partment of Homeland Security, and the North 

5 American Command in the event that a flight fails 

6 to respond to communication or ceases to be detect7 able by ground control. 

8 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 

9 of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Federal 

10 Aviation Administration shall submit to the Committees 

11 on Transportation and Infrastructure, Homeland Secu12 rity, and Armed Services of the House of Representatives 

13 and the Committees on Commerce, Science, and Transpor14 tation, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and 

15 Armed Services of the Senate. 

16 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

17 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this study, 

18 $10,000,000. 

Æ 


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