II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1112 

To improve the safety of the air supply on commercial aircraft, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 10, 2019 

Mr. BLUMENTHAL (for himself, Mr. MARKEY, and Mrs. FEINSTEIN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To improve the safety of the air supply on commercial 

aircraft, 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 ‘‘Cabin Air Safety Act 

5 of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. COMMERCIAL AIR CARRIER DEFINED. 

7 In this Act, the term ‘‘commercial air carrier’’ means 

8 an air carrier operating under part 121 or 135 of title 

9 14, Code of Federal Regulations. 


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1 SEC. 3. TRAINING TO RESPOND TO SMOKE OR FUME INCI2 DENTS ON AIRCRAFT. 

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

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

5 the Federal Aviation Administration shall prescribe regu6 lations requiring flight attendants, pilots, aircraft mainte7 nance technicians, and airport first responders and emer8 gency response teams to receive training, not less fre9 quently than annually, on how to respond to incidents on 

10 board aircraft involving smoke or fumes. 

11 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—The training required by sub12 section (a) shall include the dissemination of educational 

13 materials with respect to the following: 

14 (1) Sources and types of smoke and fumes on 

15 board aircraft. 

16 (2) Odor and visual descriptors to allow an in17 dividual to recognize the presence of oil and hydrau18 lic fluid fumes and other potentially hazardous 

19 fumes, such as fumes relating to hydraulic fluid, en20 gine exhaust, ground service vehicle exhaust, fuel, 

21 de-icing fluid, and ozone. 

22 (3) The potential for acute or chronic impair23 ment to an individual relating to such fumes. 

24 (4) Procedures for recognizing and responding 

25 to smoke and fumes on board aircraft. 


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1 (5) An overview of the system for reporting in2 cidents of smoke or fumes on board aircraft estab3 lished under section 4(a)(2). 

4 (6) Requirements relating to reporting incidents 

5 of smoke and fumes on board aircraft to the Federal 

6 Aviation Administration under sections 4 and 6(b). 

7 SEC. 4. REPORTING OF INCIDENTS OF SMOKE OR FUMES 

8 ON BOARD AIRCRAFT. 

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

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

11 the Federal Aviation Administration shall— 

12 (1) develop a standardized form for flight at13 tendants, pilots, and aircraft maintenance techni14 cians to report incidents of smoke or fumes on board 

15 an aircraft operated by a commercial air carrier; and 

16 (2) establish a system for reporting incidents of 

17 smoke or fumes on board aircraft that allows— 

18 (A) pilots, flight attendants, and aircraft 

19 maintenance technicians to— 

20 (i) submit the form developed under 

21 paragraph (1) to the Federal Aviation Ad22 ministration; and 

23 (ii) receive a copy of such submission 

24 for their records; and 


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1 (B) pilots, flight attendants, aircraft main2 tenance technicians, the collective bargaining 

3 representative of employees of the air carrier, 

4 and commercial air carriers to search the re5 ported incidents database compiled by the Fed6 eral Aviation Administration for the purposes of 

7 reviewing and monitoring incidents contained in 

8 the database and assisting with investigations 

9 conducted under section 5. 

10 (b) CONTENT OF FORMS.—The form developed under 

11 subsection (a)(1) for reporting an incident of smoke or 

12 fumes on board an aircraft shall include sections for the 

13 following information, if available at the time of the re14 port: 

15 (1) Identification of the flight, the type of air16 craft, the registration number of the aircraft, and 

17 the individual reporting the incident. 

18 (2) Information about the smoke or a fire, if 

19 relevant, including a description of the nature and 

20 apparent source of the smoke or fire. 

21 (3) Information about the fumes, including a 

22 description of the type, apparent source, smell, and 

23 visual consistency (if any) of the smoke or fumes. 

24 (4) Information about the location of the smoke 

25 or fumes. 


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1 (5) Information about the engine manufacturer, 

2 engine type, the engine serial number, and the age 

3 of the engine. 

4 (6) Information about— 

5 (A) the phase of flight during which smoke 

6 or fumes were present; and 

7 (B) if the incident happened while the air8 craft was on the ground, the location of the air9 craft at the airport at the time of the incident. 

10 (7) Other observations about the smoke or 

11 fumes. 

12 (8) A description of symptoms reported by crew 

13 members and passengers. 

14 (9) Information with respect to whether crew 

15 members or passengers used, needed, or were admin16 istered supplemental or emergency oxygen. 

17 (10) Information regarding any effects on the 

18 operation of the flight. 

19 (11) Information about maintenance work con20 ducted on the aircraft following the incident. 

21 (c) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF SMOKE AND FUME

22 EVENT INFORMATION.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not less frequently than 

24 quarterly and subject to paragraph (2), the Adminis25 trator of the Federal Aviation Administration shall 


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1 compile, and make available to the public, statistics 

2 regarding the information obtained from the forms 

3 developed under subsection (a)(1) and submitted to 

4 the Federal Aviation Administration. 

5 (2) WEBSITE.—The Administrator shall develop 

6 a publicly available Internet website that includes 

7 the aggregate data required under paragraph (1) 

8 and a searchable database for the events reported to 

9 the Federal Aviation Administration under sub10 section (a)(2) that includes the following variables 

11 for each event: 

12 (A) Date. 

13 (B) Tail number. 

14 (C) Air carrier. 

15 (D) Phase of flight. 

16 (E) Location of fumes. 

17 (F) Description of fumes. 

18 (G) Aircraft type. 

19 (H) Engine type. 

20 (I) Oil type. 

21 (J) Deidentified narrative. 

22 (K) Cause or maintenance information if 

23 cause is not known. 

24 (L) Such other criteria as the Adminis25 trator considers appropriate. 


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1 (3) REDACTION.—Before making either indi2 vidual event information or aggregate data available 

3 to the public under paragraph (1) or (2), the Admin4 istrator shall redact any personally identifiable infor5 mation. 

6 SEC. 5. INVESTIGATIONS. 

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

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

9 the Federal Aviation Administration shall prescribe regu10 lations requiring the Federal Aviation Administration to 

11 conduct an investigation described in subsection (b), after 

12 a report is submitted to the Administration through the 

13 system for reporting incidents of smoke or fumes on board 

14 aircraft established under section 4(a)(2) and before the 

15 date that is 7 days after the incident. 

16 (b) REQUIREMENTS FOR INVESTIGATIONS.—An in17 vestigation described in this subsection shall include the 

18 following: 

19 (1) Gathering factual and standardized infor20 mation from all flight attendants, pilots, aircraft 

21 maintenance technicians, airport first responders, 

22 emergency response teams, and medical doctors in23 volved in the incident. 

24 (2) Gathering any reports submitted under sec25 tion 4 with respect to the incident. 


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1 (3) Gathering technical findings on any re2 placed, worn, missing, failed, or improperly serviced 

3 components that may have resulted in the incident. 

4 (4) Identifying the cause of the incident, if pos5 sible. 

6 (c) PARTICIPATION OF AIR CARRIERS AND COLLEC7 TIVE BARGAINING REPRESENTATIVES.—In conducting an 

8 investigation under this section, the Federal Aviation Ad9 ministration shall— 

10 (1) consult with the commercial air carrier in11 volved; 

12 (2) work in conjunction with the technical rep13 resentatives of the air carrier; and 

14 (3) invite the participation of the collective bar15 gaining representative of employees of the air car16 rier. 

17 SEC. 6. AIR MONITORING EQUIPMENT. 

18 (a) REQUIREMENT TO INCLUDE ON COMMERCIAL

19 AIRCRAFT.—Not later than 180 days after the date of the 

20 enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Federal 

21 Aviation Administration shall prescribe regulations requir22 ing a commercial air carrier, by not later than one year 

23 after the regulations are published in the Federal Reg24 ister— 


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1 (1) to install and operate onboard carbon mon2 oxide detectors that— 

3 (A) are situated in the air supply system 

4 to best enable pilots and maintenance techni5 cians to locate the source or sources of air sup6 ply contamination; 

7 (B) continuously monitor carbon monoxide 

8 levels in the aircraft air supply system when the 

9 aircraft is in flight; and 

10 (C) alert the pilot and flight attendants in 

11 the event that carbon monoxide concentration is 

12 at or above 9 ppm; and 

13 (2) to have in place procedures to train the pi14 lots to initiate standardized communication proto15 cols, as soon as appropriate, with the flight attend16 ants and controllers (as needed), and to apply their 

17 professional judgement based on onboard conditions, 

18 all in response to carbon monoxide concentration at 

19 or above 9 ppm. 

20 (b) REQUIREMENT FOR A PILOT TO REPORT AN

21 ALARM.—The regulations prescribed under subsection (a) 

22 shall require a pilot to submit a form through the system 

23 for reporting incidents of smoke or fumes on board air24 craft established under section 4(a)(2) if the carbon monVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:32 Apr 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1112.IS S1112

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1 oxide concentration is at or above 9 ppm at any time dur2 ing flight. 

3 (c) INCLUSION OF INFORMATION RELATING TO CAR4 BON MONOXIDE DETECTORS IN AIRCRAFT MANUALS.— 

5 Not later than one year after the date of the enactment 

6 of this Act, the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Ad7 ministration shall prescribe regulations requiring an air8 craft manufacturer that manufactures aircraft for com9 mercial air carriers to include procedures for responding 

10 to alarms from carbon monoxide detectors during normal 

11 and nonstandard operations in the flight operator’s man12 ual for each such aircraft produced by the manufacturer. 

13 (d) CONTINUING RESEARCH TO DEVELOP SENSORS

14 AND TECHNIQUES TO MONITOR BLEED AIR QUALITY.— 

15 The Federal Aviation Administration shall continue to re16 search, study, and identify emerging technologies suitable 

17 to provide reliable warning of bleed air contamination, in18 cluding through investigation and research into specific 

19 sensors, methods, and operational techniques to prevent 

20 fume events. 

21 (e) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec22 tion may be construed to imply that an investigation under 

23 section 5 is not necessary or that crew members and pas24 sengers have not been exposed to fumes if the alarm in 


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1 a carbon monoxide detector installed on an aircraft is not 

2 activated. 

3 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

4 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Fed5 eral Aviation Administration such sums as may be nec6 essary to carry out this Act. 

7 SEC. 8. EXCLUSION OF HELICOPTERS. 

8 The provisions of this Act do not apply to helicopters. 

9 SEC. 9. CONFORMING REPEAL. 

10 Section 326 of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 

11 (Public Law 115–254) is repealed. 

Æ 


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