Bipartisan legislation introduced in the Senate Tuesday aims to invest in airport infrastructure, ensure more opportunities for a trained aviation workforce and empower the voices of pilots.
The Promoting the Launch of Aviation’s Next Era Act of 2019 would: require additional transparency in any Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rulemaking, allow air traffic control applicants to include classroom and simulation training within an FAA-approved formal training process, give civil liability protection to trained private citizens who want to certify pilots and aircraft, and allow pilots facing an investigation by FAA can appeal to a federal district court for a de novo trial.
The act also would ensure tax receipts from all aviation fuel sources are deposited in the airport and airways trust fund, establish a public-private partnership for general aviation airports to attract private sector investment, designate qualified general aviation airports as “Disaster Relief Airports,” and enhance legal protections for the aviation community by requiring FAA to find reasonable grounds to require the reexamination of a pilot certificate and giving the National Transportation Safety Board the authority to review the denial of an airmen medical certificate.
The bill was introduced by Sens. Angus King (I-ME) and Jim Inhofe (R-OK).
Many members of the general aviation industry and the pilot community support the bill.