I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4166 
To improve technology and address human factors in aviation safety, and 
for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
AUGUST 6, 2019 
Mr. DESAULNIER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the 
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, for a period to be subse-
quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To improve technology and address human factors in aviation 
safety, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Safe Landings Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) Given that the United States enjoys an ex-
ceptionally safe aviation system with an exceedingly 
low frequency of airline accidents, efforts to improve 
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aviation safety should examine nonaccident safety 
incidents for all possible insights. 
(2) Aviation safety should not be taken for 
granted, and even with so few accidents, the U.S. 
Aerospace System should proactively address safety 
concerns that emerge from our dynamic and evolving 
economic conditions, technology, aviation industry, 
and other factors. 
(3) Preventing accidents from occurring in the 
airport runway environment remains an objective re-
quiring continued effort, and incidents of runway 
confusion, defined as the subset of runway incur-
sions in which an aircraft unintentionally takes off 
or lands on a taxiway or incorrect runway, should be 
carefully monitored, reviewed, and studied for in-
sights to improve safety. 
(4) While technology continues to advance and 
new opportunities to use technology to address safe-
ty risks in aviation are examined and pursued, the 
evolving role of technology and the expanding use of 
automation should not be used as justification to di-
minish attention to and prioritization of the human 
contribution to aviation safety. The aviation industry 
and the Government must ensure that training pro-
grams for flight crews and other personnel are ap-
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propriately evolving, that training standards and ex-
pectations remain rigorous, and that risks and con-
cerns associated with the interaction between hu-
mans, technology, and automated systems are identi-
fied, studied, and addressed in a timely manner. 
SEC. 3. IMPLEMENTATION OF NTSB RECOMMENDATIONS. 
(a) NAVIGATIONAL
RADIOS.—The Administrator 
shall implement the recommendation of the National 
Transportation Safety Board numbered as A–18–23 and 
issued on October 11, 2018, with respect to the tuning 
of navigational radios to assist flight crews in managing 
the flight path of aircraft on visual approaches. The Ad-
ministrator shall work with part 121 air carriers on imple-
mentation of this recommendation, and, not later than 1 
year after the enactment of this Act, the Administrator 
shall issue to Congress a report on air carrier compliance 
rate. 
(b) NTSB RECOMMENDATION.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall im-
plement the recommendation of the National Trans-
portation Safety Board numbered as A–18–25 and 
issued on October 11, 2018, and, not later than 1 
year after the enactment of this Act, the Adminis-
trator shall issue to Congress a report on the status 
of the implementation. 
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(2) CONSIDERATION.—In implementing this 
recommendation, the Administrator shall consider 
any relevant findings identified pursuant to section 
334 of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 (Pub-
lic Law 115–254). 
(c) PILOT ALERTS.—The Administrator shall— 
(1) collaborate with aircraft and avionics manu-
facturers, labor organizations representing pilots op-
erating under part 121 of title 14, Code of Federal 
Regulations, and software developers to develop the 
technology for a cockpit system that provides an 
alert to pilots when an airplane is not aligned with 
the intended runway surface; 
(2) once such technology described in para-
graph (1) is available, establish a requirement for 
the technology to be installed on aircraft operating 
under part 121 of title 14, Code of Federal Regula-
tions, landing at airports within Class B and Class 
C airspace and certified under part 139 of title 14, 
Code of Federal Regulations; 
(3) in establishing the requirement as described 
in paragraph (2), consider any relevant findings 
identified pursuant to section 334 of the FAA Reau-
thorization Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–254); and 
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(4) not later than 1 year after the date of en-
actment of this Act, issue to Congress a report on 
the progress of the work described in paragraph (1). 
(d) NTSB RECOMMENDATION.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall im-
plement the recommendation of the National Trans-
portation Safety Board numbered as A–18–27 and 
issued on October 11, 2018, and, not later than 1 
year after the enactment of this Act, the Adminis-
trator shall issue to Congress a report on the status 
of the implementation. 
(2) CONSIDERATION.—In implementing this 
recommendation, the Administrator shall consider 
any relevant findings identified pursuant to section 
334 of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 (Pub-
lic Law 115–254). 
SEC. 4. INVESTIGATIONS FOR COVERED EVENTS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Once implementation of section 
3(b) of this Act is complete, the National Transportation 
Safety Board may initiate investigations of covered events 
to determine risk factors specific to the airport at which 
such an event occurred and other elements of the National 
Airspace System that may contribute to the cause of the 
event. The National Transportation Safety Board may 
also elect to consider multiple events in a single report 
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improve the aviation safety inspection program of the 
FAA. 
SEC. 12. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis-
trator’’ means the Administrator of the Federal 
Aviation Administration. 
(2) COVERED
EVENT.—The term ‘‘covered 
event’’ means— 
(A) a category A or B runway incursion, 
as defined in Order 7050.1B of the Federal 
Aviation Administration (dated November 3, 
2013); 
(B) a landing on a taxiway, incorrect run-
way, or other area not designed as a runway at 
a public-use airport on land; 
(C) descent by an aircraft below 300 feet 
above ground level on approach to a taxiway, 
incorrect runway, or other area not designed as 
a runway at a public-use airport on land; or 
(D) a landing by an aircraft notwith-
standing an instruction by air traffic control 
that the aircraft perform a missed approach or 
go-around. 
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