to include a general aviation section in the bill. On the Senate side, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation has jurisdiction, and Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) has directed the committee full steam into FAA reauthorization hearings. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) is the chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Aviation Safety, Operations, and Innovation, with Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kans.) serving as ranking member. The Senate Commerce Committee started its work with the hearing “Strengthening Airline Operations and Consumer Protections,” followed by another hearing titled “The Federal Aviation Administration’s NOTAM System Failure and Its Impacts on a Resilient National Airspace.” In the lat- ter hearing, FAA Acting Administrator Billy Nolen detailed the failure of the agency’s computerized NOTAM system that led to a ground stop of flight depar- tures in January 2023. Chair Cantwell said the FAA “needs to get it right on modernizing its technology and infrastructure.” She added, “For the United States to be the leader in avia- tion, we must set the global standard for aviation safety.” Subcommittee Chair Duckworth submitted questions to the FAA inquiring how the agency and the Federal Communications Commission are cooperating to pre- vent a future problem with 5G. For his part in the hearing, Ranking Member Ted Cruz
(R-Texas) said the committee “is going to examine the FAA’s record on questions of safety [and] on the failure of the NOTAM system that resulted in thousands of flights being canceled, and I also expect it’s going to highlight the very real consequences for air travel and safety of being more than two years into an administra- tion without a confirmed FAA administrator.”
HAI’s Work in Advocating for Members’ Interests Clearly, safety and preserving the FAA as the gold stan- dard are a priority for both the House and the Senate. HAI is working with the committees in both chambers to
advocate for our members’ priorities in the large reau- thorization bill. HAI submitted written testimony for the initial House hearing, providing our stance on the most pressing safety issues facing the vertical aviation indus- try today, including leadership, FAA preemption author- ity, infrastructure, technology, UAS (uncrewed aircraft system) beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) operations, performance-based requirements, and airspace access, as well as spectrum policy, workforce development, a commitment to safety, and the role of the National Parks Overflights Advisory Group in the development of air tour management plans (ATMPs).
HAI Members
HAI is here for you! Contact
advocacy@rotor.org with your legislative challenges.
Congress must pass the reauthorization bill by the end of September. In order to do so, the committees involved will hold multiple hearings to discuss a wide range of issues. The chairs of both committees will produce their separate versions of a base bill. As that base bill then moves forward through the committee process, other
members will submit amendments in an attempt to get their priority items attached to the overall bill. Once the House and Senate have each settled on its
version of the reauthorization bill, the chambers then need to work together to merge the two different ver- sions into one. This is typically done through conference, where staff determine where agreement exists on priori- ties and generate one version of the bill that both the House and the Senate can approve. It’s an intensive pro- cess, requiring long staff hours to shepherd the bill to the finish line.
If Congress can’t submit a final reauthorization bill by the end of September, it will be forced to pass an exten- sion, which puts the agency essentially on status quo until Congress can pass the bill. Both Senate committee chair Cantwell and House committee chair Graves have set aggressive schedules for the completion of the legis- lative work, and both leaders have publicly stated their commitment to wrapping up the bill this year. HAI will continue to work with the committees throughout this process to ensure that the voice of the vertical aviation industry is represented and heard.
MARCH 2023 ROTOR 13
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84
