II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 11 

To provide liability protection to volunteer pilot nonprofit organizations that 

fly for public benefit and to the pilots and staff of such nonprofit 

organizations, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 19, 2007 

Mr. INHOFE introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To provide liability protection to volunteer pilot nonprofit 

organizations that fly for public benefit and to the pilots 

and staff of such nonprofit organizations, 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 ‘‘Volunteer Pilot Orga5 nization Protection Act of 2007’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 

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


hsrobinson on PROD1PC76 with BILLS
2 

•S 11 IS

1 (1) Many volunteer pilot nonprofit organiza2 tions fly for public benefit and provide valuable serv3 ices to communities and individuals. 

4 (2) In calendar year 2006, volunteer pilot non5 profit organizations provided long-distance, no-cost 

6 transportation for more than 58,000 people during 

7 times of special need. 

8 (3) Such nonprofit organizations are no longer 

9 able to purchase non-owned aircraft liability insur10 ance to provide liability protection at a reasonable 

11 price, and therefore face a highly detrimental liabil12 ity risk. 

13 (4) Such nonprofit organizations have sup14 ported the homeland security of the United States 

15 by providing volunteer pilot services during times of 

16 national emergency. 

17 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to promote 

18 the activities of volunteer pilot nonprofit organizations 

19 that fly for public benefit and to sustain the availability 

20 of the services that such nonprofit organizations provide, 

21 including the following: 

22 (1) Transportation at no cost to financially 

23 needy medical patients for medical treatment, eval24 uation, and diagnosis. 


hsrobinson on PROD1PC76 with BILLS
3 

•S 11 IS

1 (2) Flights for humanitarian and charitable 

2 purposes. 

3 (3) Other flights of compassion. 

4 SEC. 3. LIABILITY PROTECTION FOR VOLUNTEER PILOT 

5 NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS THAT FLY FOR 

6 PUBLIC BENEFIT AND TO PILOTS AND STAFF 

7 OF SUCH NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS. 

8 Section 4 of the Volunteer Protection Act of 1997 

9 (42 U.S.C. 14503) is amended— 

10 (1) in subsection (a)(4)— 

11 (A) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) 

12 and (B) as clauses (i) and (ii), respectively; 

13 (B) by striking ‘‘the harm’’ and inserting 

14 ‘‘(A) except in the case of subparagraph (B), 

15 the harm’’; 

16 (C) in subparagraph (A)(ii), as redesig17 nated by this paragraph, by striking the period 

18 at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

19 (D) by adding at the end the following: 

20 ‘‘(B) the volunteer— 

21 ‘‘(i) was operating an aircraft in further22 ance of the purpose of a volunteer pilot non23 profit organization that flies for public benefit; 

24 and 


hsrobinson on PROD1PC76 with BILLS
4 

•S 11 IS

1 ‘‘(ii) was properly licensed and insured for 

2 the operation of such aircraft.’’; and 

3 (2) in subsection (c)— 

4 (A) by striking ‘‘Nothing in this section’’ 

5 and inserting the following: 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para7 graph (2), nothing in this section’’; and 

8 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

9 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—A volunteer pilot nonprofit 

10 organization that flies for public benefit, the staff, 

11 mission coordinators, officers, and directors (whether 

12 volunteer or otherwise) of such nonprofit organiza13 tion, and a referring agency of such nonprofit orga14 nization shall not be liable for harm caused to any 

15 person by a volunteer of such nonprofit organization 

16 while such volunteer— 

17 ‘‘(A) is operating an aircraft in further18 ance of the purpose of such nonprofit organiza19 tion; 

20 ‘‘(B) is properly licensed for the operation 

21 of such aircraft; and 

22 ‘‘(C) has certified to such nonprofit organi23 zation that such volunteer has insurance covVerDate Aug 31 2005 23:11 Dec 21, 2007 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S11.IS S11

hsrobinson on PROD1PC76 with BILLS
5 

•S 11 IS

1 ering the volunteer’s operation of such air2 craft.’’. 

Æ 


hsrobinson on PROD1PC76 with BILLS