Bipartisan legislation that would help prevent Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) system outages heads to President Joe Biden for his signature.
The NOTAM Improvement Act would require the FAA to establish a task force designed to strengthen the resiliency and cybersecurity of the NOTAM system. A NOTAM is a notice alerting pilots of safety and location hazards on flight routes.
The task force would be composed of aviation safety and cybersecurity experts, and representatives from airline pilot, aircraft dispatcher and FAA personnel unions, air carriers, and airports.
The legislation is in response to a January NOTAM system outage in that grounded flights nationwide.
U.S. Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Jerry Moran (R-KS), ranking member of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Aviation and co-chair of the Senate Travel and Tourism Caucus, introduced the bill in the Senate. U.S. Reps. Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA) and Pete Stauber (R-MN) introduced a companion bill in the House of Representatives.
“The complete failure of the FAA’s NOTAM system stranded millions of Americans and was a warning of the need to strengthen and modernize our air travel system,” Moran said.
In January, Moran and Klobuchar spoke with FAA Acting Administrator Billy Nolen to discuss the agency’s efforts to identify what caused the system outage.