IIB 
113TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1848 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
JULY 17, 2013 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, 
and Transportation 
AN ACT 
To ensure that the Federal Aviation Administration advances 
the safety of small airplanes, and the continued develop-
ment of the general aviation industry, and for other 
purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Small Airplane Revital-
ization Act of 2013’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) A healthy small aircraft industry is integral 
to economic growth and to maintaining an effective 
transportation infrastructure for communities and 
nations around the world. 
(2) Small aircraft comprise nearly 90 percent of 
FAA type certified general aviation aircraft. 
(3) General aviation provides for the cultivation 
of a workforce of engineers, manufacturing and 
maintenance professionals, and pilots, who secure 
the Nation’s economic success and defense. 
(4) General aviation contributes to well-paying 
manufacturing and technology jobs in the United 
States, and these products are exported in great 
numbers, providing a positive trade balance. 
(5) Technology developed and proven in general 
aviation aids in the success and safety of all sectors 
of aviation and scientific competence. 
(6) The average small airplane in the United 
States is now 40 years old and the regulatory bar-
riers to bringing new designs to market are resulting 
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in a lack of innovation and investment in small air-
plane design. 
(7) Over the past decade, the United States has 
typically lost 10,000 active private pilots per year, 
partially due to a lack of cost-effective, new small 
airplanes. 
(8) General aviation safety can be improved by 
modernizing and revamping the regulations for this 
sector to clear the path for technology adoption and 
cost-effective means to retrofit the existing fleet with 
new safety technologies. 
SEC. 3. FAA SAFETY AND REGULATORY IMPROVEMENTS 
FOR GENERAL AVIATION. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT OF FAA SAFETY AND REGU-
LATORY IMPROVEMENTS FOR GENERAL AVIATION.—The 
Administrator shall advance the safety and continued de-
velopment of small airplanes by reorganizing the certifi-
cation requirements applicable to small airplanes to 
streamline the approval of safety advancements. 
(b) REGULATIONS.—The Administrator shall issue a 
final rule based on the FAA’s Part 23 Reorganization 
Aviation Rulemaking Committee (established in August 
2011) by December 31, 2015. The final rule shall meet 
the following objectives of the Part 23 Committee: 
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(1) Create a regulatory regime for small air-
planes that will improve safety and decrease certifi-
cation costs. 
(2) Set broad, outcome-driven safety objectives 
that will spur innovation and technology adoption. 
(3) Replace current, prescriptive requirements 
contained in FAA rules with performance-based reg-
ulations. 
(4) Use FAA-accepted consensus standards to 
clarify how the part 23 safety objectives may be met 
by specific designs and technologies. 
(c) CONSENSUS-BASED STANDARDS.—The Adminis-
trator shall use acceptable consensus-based standards 
whenever possible in the spirit of the National Technology 
Transfer and Advancement Act of 1996 (15 U.S.C. 3701 
note), while continuing traditional methods for meeting 
part 23. 
(d) SAFETY COOPERATION.—The Administrator shall 
lead the effort to improve general aviation safety by work-
ing with leading aviation regulators to assist them in 
adopting a complementary regulatory approach for small 
airplanes. 
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act, the following definitions apply: 
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(1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis-
trator’’ means the Administrator of the Federal 
Aviation Administration. 
(2) CONSENSUS STANDARDS.—The term ‘‘con-
sensus standards’’ means standards developed by 
voluntary organizations which plan, develop, estab-
lish, or coordinate voluntary standards using agreed- 
upon procedures, both domestic and international. 
These standards include provisions requiring that 
owners of relevant intellectual property agree to 
make that intellectual property available on a non-
discriminatory, royalty-free or reasonable-royalty 
basis to all interested parties. These bodies have the 
attributes of openness, balance of interest, due proc-
ess, an appeals process, and consensus. 
(3) FAA.—The term ‘‘FAA’’ means the Fed-
eral Aviation Administration. 
(4) GENERAL
AVIATION.—The term ‘‘general 
aviation’’ means all aviation activities other than 
scheduled commercial airline operations and military 
aviation. 
(5) PART 23.—The term ‘‘part 23’’ means part 
23 of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations. 
(6) SMALL AIRPLANE.—The term ‘‘small air-
plane’’ means FAA type certificated airplanes that 
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meet the parameters of part 23 of title 14, Code of 
Federal Regulations. 
Passed the House of Representatives July 16, 2013. 
Attest: 
KAREN L. HAAS, 
Clerk. 
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