II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1193 

To amend title 49, United States Code, to enhance aviation safety, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 4, 2009 

Ms. SNOWE (for herself and Ms. KLOBUCHAR) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 

Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To amend title 49, United States Code, to enhance 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 ‘‘Aviation Safety En5 hancement Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. AVIATION SAFETY WHISTLEBLOWER INVESTIGA7 TION OFFICE. 

8 Section 106 of title 49, United States Code, is 

9 amended by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(s) AVIATION SAFETY WHISTLEBLOWER INVES2 TIGATION OFFICE.— 

3 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in 

4 the Department of Transportation an Aviation Safe5 ty Whistleblower Investigation Office (in this sub6 section referred to as the ‘Office’). 

7 ‘‘(2) DIRECTOR.— 

8 ‘‘(A) APPOINTMENT.—The head of the Of9 fice shall be the Director, who shall be ap10 pointed by the Secretary of Transportation. 

11 ‘‘(B) QUALIFICATIONS.—The Director 

12 shall have a demonstrated ability in investiga13 tions and knowledge of, or experience in, avia14 tion. 

15 ‘‘(C) TERM.—The Director shall be ap16 pointed for a term of 5 years. 

17 ‘‘(D) VACANCY.—Any individual appointed 

18 to fill a vacancy in the position of the Director 

19 occurring before the expiration of the term for 

20 which the individual’s predecessor was ap21 pointed shall be appointed for the remainder of 

22 that term. 

23 ‘‘(3) COMPLAINTS AND INVESTIGATIONS.— 

24 ‘‘(A) AUTHORITY OF DIRECTOR.—The Di25 rector shall— 


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1 ‘‘(i) receive complaints and informa2 tion submitted by employees of persons 

3 holding operating certificates issued under 

4 chapter 1 of title 14, Code of Federal Reg5 ulations, and employees of the Administra6 tion with respect to activities that may vio7 late an order, regulation, or standard of 

8 the Administration or any other provision 

9 of Federal law relating to aviation safety; 

10 ‘‘(ii) assess complaints and informa11 tion submitted under clause (i) and deter12 mine whether a substantial likelihood ex13 ists that a violation of an order, regulation, 

14 or standard of the Administration or any 

15 other provision of Federal law relating to 

16 aviation safety has occurred; and 

17 ‘‘(iii) based on the assessment con18 ducted under clause (ii), submit written 

19 recommendations to the Administrator for 

20 further investigation or corrective actions. 

21 ‘‘(B) DISCLOSURE OF IDENTITIES.—The 

22 Director may not disclose the identity of an in23 dividual who submits a complaint or informa24 tion under subparagraph (A)(i) unless— 


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1 ‘‘(i) the individual provides written 

2 consent to the disclosure; or 

3 ‘‘(ii) the Director determines, in the 

4 course of an investigation undertaken in 

5 response to the complaint or information 

6 submitted by the individual, that the dis7 closure is unavoidable. 

8 ‘‘(C) INDEPENDENCE OF DIRECTOR.—The 

9 Secretary of Transportation, the Administrator, 

10 or any officer or employee of the Administra11 tion may not prevent or prohibit the Director 

12 from— 

13 ‘‘(i) initiating, carrying out, or com14 pleting any assessment of a complaint or 

15 information submitted subparagraph 

16 (A)(i); or 

17 ‘‘(ii) reporting to Congress with re18 spect to any such assessment. 

19 ‘‘(D) ACCESS TO INFORMATION.—In con20 ducting an assessment of a complaint or infor21 mation submitted under subparagraph (A)(i), 

22 the Director shall have access to all records, re23 ports, audits, reviews, documents, papers, rec24 ommendations, and other material necessary to 

25 determine whether a substantial likelihood exVerDate Nov 24 2008 06:25 Jun 05, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1193.IS S1193

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1 ists that a violation of an order, regulation, or 

2 standard of the Administration or any other 

3 provision of Federal law relating to aviation 

4 safety has occurred. 

5 ‘‘(4) RESPONSES TO RECOMMENDATIONS.—The 

6 Administrator shall— 

7 ‘‘(A) submit a written response to a rec8 ommendation submitted by the Director under 

9 subparagraph (A)(iii); and 

10 ‘‘(B) retain records related to any inves11 tigations or corrective actions taken in response 

12 to the recommendation. 

13 ‘‘(5) INCIDENT REPORTS.—If the Director de14 termines there is a substantial likelihood that a vio15 lation of an order, regulation, or standard of the Ad16 ministration or any other provision of Federal law 

17 relating to aviation safety has occurred and that the 

18 potential violation requires immediate corrective ac19 tion, the Director shall expeditiously report the po20 tential violation to the Administrator and the In21 spector General of the Department of Transpor22 tation. 

23 ‘‘(6) REPORTING OF CRIMINAL VIOLATIONS TO

24 INSPECTOR GENERAL.—If the Director has reason25 able grounds to believe that there has been a violaVerDate Nov 24 2008 06:25 Jun 05, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1193.IS S1193

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1 tion of Federal criminal law, the Director shall expe2 ditiously report the violation to the Inspector Gen3 eral. 

4 ‘‘(7) ANNUAL REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—Not 

5 later than October 1 of each year, the Director shall 

6 submit to Congress a report that contains— 

7 ‘‘(A) information on the number of com8 plaints and the information submitted to the 

9 Director under paragraph (3)(A)(i) during the 

10 preceding 12-month period; 

11 ‘‘(B) summaries of the submissions de12 scribed in subparagraph (A); 

13 ‘‘(C) summaries of investigations and cor14 rective actions recommended in response to the 

15 submissions described in subparagraph (A); and 

16 ‘‘(D) summaries of the responses of the 

17 Administrator to the recommendations de18 scribed in subparagraph (C).’’. 

19 SEC. 3. MODIFICATION OF CUSTOMER SERVICE INITIATIVE. 

20 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

21 (1) Subsections (a) and (d) of section 40101 of 

22 title 49, United States Code, directs the Federal 

23 Aviation Administration (referred to in this section 

24 as the ‘‘Administration’’) to make safety its highest 

25 priority. 


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1 (2) To ensure that there would be no appear2 ance of a conflict of interest for the Administration 

3 in carrying out its safety responsibilities, Congress 

4 amended section 40101(d) of such title in section 

5 401 of the Federal Aviation Reauthorization Act of 

6 1996 (Public Law 104–264; 110 Stat. 3244) to re7 move the responsibilities of the Administration to 

8 promote airlines. 

9 (3) Despite those directives from Congress re10 garding the priority of safety, the Administration— 

11 (A) issued a vision statement in which the 

12 Administration stated that the vision of the Ad13 ministration includes ‘‘being responsive to our 

14 customers and accountable to the public’’; and 

15 (B) issued a customer service initiative in 

16 2003, which required aviation inspectors to 

17 treat air carriers and other aviation certificate 

18 holders as ‘‘customers’’ rather than as regu19 lated entities. 

20 (4) The initiative described in paragraph (3) 

21 appears to have given regulated entities and Admin22 istration inspectors the impression that the manage23 ment of the Administration gives an unduly high pri24 ority to the satisfaction of regulated entities regardVerDate Nov 24 2008 06:25 Jun 05, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1193.IS S1193

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1 ing its inspection and certification decisions and 

2 other lawful actions of its safety inspectors. 

3 (5) As a result of the emphasis on customer 

4 satisfaction, some managers of the Administration 

5 have discouraged vigorous enforcement and replaced 

6 inspectors whose lawful actions adversely affected an 

7 air carrier. 

8 (b) MODIFICATION OF INITIATIVE.—Not later than 

9 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

10 Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration 

11 shall modify the customer service initiative, mission, vision 

12 statements, and other statements of policy of the Adminis13 tration— 

14 (1) to remove any reference to air carriers and 

15 other entities regulated by the Administration as 

16 ‘‘customers’’; 

17 (2) to clarify that in regulating safety, the only 

18 customers of the Administration are individuals trav19 eling on aircraft; and 

20 (3) to clarify that air carriers and other entities 

21 regulated by the Administration do not have the 

22 right to select the employees of the Administration 

23 who will inspect their operations. 

24 (c) SAFETY PRIORITY.—In carrying out the Adminis25 trator’s responsibilities, the Administrator shall ensure 


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1 that safety is given a higher priority than preventing the 

2 dissatisfaction of an air carrier or other entity regulated 

3 by the Administration with an employee of the Adminis4 tration. 

5 SEC. 4. POST-EMPLOYMENT RESTRICTIONS FOR FLIGHT 

6 STANDARDS INSPECTORS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 44711 of title 49, United 

8 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol9 lowing: 

10 ‘‘(d) POST-EMPLOYMENT RESTRICTIONS FOR

11 FLIGHT STANDARDS INSPECTORS.—A person holding an 

12 operating certificate issued under chapter 1 of title 14, 

13 Code of Federal Regulations, may not knowingly employ, 

14 or engage in employment negotiations or make a contrac15 tual arrangement of employment with, an employee of the 

16 Federal Aviation Administration if the employee, in the 

17 preceding 2-year period— 

18 ‘‘(1) served as, or was responsible for oversight 

19 of, a flight standards inspector of the Agency; and 

20 ‘‘(2) had responsibility to inspect, or oversee in21 spection of, the operations of the certificate holder.’’. 

22 (b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendment made by sub23 section (a) shall apply with respect to individuals em24 ployed, on or after the date of the enactment of this Act, 

25 by the Federal Aviation Administration. 


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1 SEC. 5. ASSIGNMENT OF PRINCIPAL SUPERVISORY INSPEC2 TORS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—An individual serving as a prin4 cipal supervisory inspector of the Federal Aviation Admin5 istration may not be responsible for overseeing the oper6 ations of the same air carrier for a continuous period of 

7 more than 5 years. 

8 (b) TRANSITIONAL PROVISION.—An individual serv9 ing as a principal supervisory inspector of the Administra10 tion with respect to an air carrier on the day before the 

11 date of the enactment of this Act may be responsible for 

12 overseeing the operations of that air carrier until the later 

13 of— 

14 (1) the last day of the 5-year period described 

15 in subsection (a); or 

16 (2) the last day of the 2-year period beginning 

17 on such date of enactment. 

18 (c) ISSUANCE OF ORDER.—Not later than 90 days 

19 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Adminis20 trator of the Federal Aviation Administration shall issue 

21 an order to carry out this section. 

22 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

23 are authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator 

24 such sums as may be necessary to carry out this section. 


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1 SEC. 6. IMPROVED VOLUNTARY DISCLOSURE REPORTING 

2 SYSTEM. 

3 (a) VOLUNTARY DISCLOSURE REPORTING PROGRAM

4 DEFINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘Voluntary Disclo5 sure Reporting Program’’ means the program established 

6 by the Federal Aviation Administration through Advisory 

7 Circular 00–58A, dated September 8, 2006. 

8 (b) VERIFICATION AND EVALUATION.—The Adminis9 trator of the Federal Aviation Administration shall modify 

10 the Voluntary Disclosure Reporting Program to require 

11 inspectors to— 

12 (1) verify that air carriers implement com13 prehensive solutions to correct the underlying causes 

14 of the violations voluntarily disclosed by such air 

15 carriers pursuant to the Program; and 

16 (2) evaluate, before accepting a new report with 

17 respect to a previously disclosed violation, whether 

18 the air carrier implemented a comprehensive solution 

19 with respect to the violation as required by para20 graph (1). 

21 (c) SUPERVISORY REVIEW OF VOLUNTARY SELF22 DISCLOSURES.—The Administrator shall establish a proc23 ess by which each voluntary disclosure received from an 

24 air carrier about the practices of that air carrier is re25 viewed and approved by a supervisor after the initial paper 

26 review by an inspector. 


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1 SEC. 7. NATIONAL REVIEW TEAM. 

2 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Administrator of the 

3 Federal Aviation Administration shall establish a National 

4 Review Team, comprised of Federal Aviation Administra5 tion inspectors who are serving or have served as principal 

6 supervisory inspectors. 

7 (b) AUDITS.—The National Review Team shall con8 duct periodic, unannounced audits throughout the United 

9 States of the operations and maintenance practices and 

10 procedures of air carriers to evaluate the effectiveness of 

11 the oversight of air carriers carried out by the Federal 

12 Aviation Administration. 

13 (c) SUPERVISION.—The National Review Team shall 

14 be directly supervised by the Associate Administrator for 

15 Aviation Safety. 

16 (d) LIMITATION.—The Associate Administrator for 

17 Aviation Safety shall prohibit a member of the National 

18 Review Team from participating in any audit of an air 

19 carrier under subsection (b) if the member has previously 

20 had responsibility for inspecting, or overseeing the inspec21 tion of, the operations of that air carrier. 

22 SEC. 8. HEADQUARTERS REVIEW OF AIR TRANSPORTATION 

23 OVERSIGHT SYSTEM DATABASE. 

24 (a) REVIEWS.—The Administrator of the Federal 

25 Aviation Administration shall establish a process by which 

26 the air transportation oversight system database of the 


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1 Federal Aviation Administration is reviewed by a team of 

2 employees of the Administration on a monthly basis to en3 sure— 

4 (1) the identification of any trends with respect 

5 to compliance or noncompliance with the regulations, 

6 advisory directives, policies, and procedures of the 

7 Administration; and 

8 (2) that appropriate actions are taken to cor9 rect any trends toward noncompliance identified 

10 under paragraph (1). 

11 (b) MONTHLY TEAM REPORTS.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—The team of employees con13 ducting a monthly review of the air transportation 

14 oversight system database under subsection (a) shall 

15 submit a report on the results of the review to the 

16 Administrator, the Associate Administrator for Avia17 tion Safety, and the Director of the Flight Stand18 ards Service. 

19 (2) CONTENTS.—Each report submitted under 

20 paragraph (1) shall identify— 

21 (A) any trends in with respect to compli22 ance or noncompliance identified under sub23 section (a)(1) by the team of employees con24 ducting the review required under subsection 

25 (a); and 


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1 (B) any corrective actions taken or pro2 posed to be taken under subsection (a)(2) in re3 sponse to any trends toward noncompliance. 

4 (c) QUARTERLY REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—The Ad5 ministrator shall submit a quarterly report to the Com6 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 

7 Senate and the Committee on Transportation and Infra8 structure of the House of Representatives that— 

9 (1) describes the results of the reviews of the 

10 air transportation oversight system database con11 ducted under subsection (a); and 

12 (2) includes copies of reports received under 

13 subsection (b). 

14 SEC. 9. RULEMAKING. 

15 Not later than 90 days after the date of the enact16 ment of this Act, the Administrator of the Federal Avia17 tion Administration shall prescribe such regulations as 

18 may be necessary to carry out this Act and the amend19 ments made by this Act. 

Æ 


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