Sound of Freedom Act

To provide for the approval authority for National Guard flyovers, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Sound of Freedom Act 2. National Guard flyovers of public events (a) Statement of policy It shall be the policy of the Department of Defense that flyovers of public events in support of community relations activities may only be flown as part of an approved training mission at no additional expense to the Federal Government. (b) National guard flyover approval process The Adjutant General of a State in which an Army National Guard or Air National Guard unit is based will be the approval authority for all Air National Guard and Army National Guard flyovers in that State, including any request for a flyover in any civilian domain at a nonaviation related event. (c) Flyover record maintenance; report (1) Record maintenance The Secretary of Defense shall keep and maintain records of flyover requests and approvals in a publicly accessible database that is updated annually. (2) GAO report Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate a report on flyovers and the process whereby flyover requests are made and evaluated, including— (A) whether there is any cost to taxpayers associated with flyovers; (B) whether there is any appreciable public relations or recruitment value that comes from flyovers; and (C) the impact flyovers have to aviator training and readiness. (d) Flyover defined In this section, the term flyover (1) in which a straight and level flight limited to one pass by a single military aircraft, or by a single formation of four or fewer military aircraft of the same type, from the same military department over a predetermined point on the ground at a specific time; (2) that does not involve aerobatics or demonstrations; and (3) uses bank angles of up to 90 degrees if required to improve the spectator visibility of the aircraft.

Summary: Sound of Freedom Act This bill states that it shall be Department of Defense (DOD) policy that flyovers of public events in support of community relations activities may only be flown as part of an approved training mission at no additional expense to the federal government. The Adjutant General of a state in which an Army National Guard or Air National Guard unit is based shall be the approval authority for all Air National Guard and Army National Guard flyovers in that state, including any flyover request in any civilian domain at a non-aviation related event. DOD shall maintain records of flyover requests and approvals in a publicly accessible database updated annually. "Flyover" means aviation support: in which a straight and level flight limited to one pass by a single military aircraft, or by a single formation of four or fewer military aircraft of the same type, from the same military department over a predetermined point on the ground at a specific time; that does not involve aerobatics or demonstrations; and that uses bank angles of up to 90 degrees if required to improve spectator visibility of the aircraft.