The role of automation in air traffic control

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by Joe Baker

A wave of automated technologies is helping make air traffic control operations safer and more efficient, but how exactly do these technologies work?

Automation is hardly a new concept for the aviation industry. For several years, on-board datalink systems have transmitted aircraft information to ground control centres, while autopilot is routinely used to direct flights. Singapore’s Changi Airport recently pumped investment into automation at its newly opened Terminal 4, which features so many ‘do-it-yourself’ systems for passengers that human employees are now an unexpected sight.

In the world of air traffic control (ATC), a series of automated solutions are deployed to provide controllers with more accurate information earlier, help increase visibility at airports, and enhance communications with pilots. Communication, navigation and surveillance tools help ATC controllers to fulfil their primary responsibility of preventing collisions between aircraft.

Nevertheless, as these tools become more and more vital to safety and increased efficiency, the industry is asking questions about the controller’s role and how this is both positively and negatively impacted by the increasing role of automation.

Enhancing visibility for controllers

UK air navigation services provider NATS tracks and controls aircraft moving through airspaces across more than 30 countries worldwide, including 14 airports in Britain. With the number of flights handled increasing exponentially every year, the pressure is also rising for controllers. This creates a higher potential for human error and makes the role of automated assistance even more important.

“If you’ve got a very high workload, then you are more likely to make a mistake, miss information or do something that you shouldn’t do,” says NATS head of human factors Neil May. “Equally, if you’ve got a very low workload, the chances of you making a mistake are higher. So what we try and do is keep the workload within appropriate bounds.”

May cites visibility as an area where automation systems currently provide a major boost. An ATC tower window serves as the main source of information to controllers while they give clearances to aircraft landing, taking off, or taxiing to and from the stand. Nevertheless, obstacles such as hangars and stands, poor weather conditions, and runways that stretch into the horizon can make their job more difficult.

Controllers therefore use radar displays to supplement their awareness. Automated warnings, such as those provided by a short-term conflict alert system, let the controller know automatically if an aircraft or vehicle is attempting to enter a runway when it is already occupied.

However, the introduction of remote digital towers – already seen at the UK’s London City and Singapore’s Changi airports – is helping to further enhance visibility. Airports can now erect camera masts and microphones that transmit data to a separate control centre, which can sometimes be hundreds of miles away. Once the view of the airfield is stitched back together in the form of a live image, this can be augmented with operational data such as radar tags, which can be placed on individual aircraft and show the location of closed taxiways.

May says that control tower assistants, which currently carry out a number of roles, could also have their workload reduced by automation. For example, assistants at London Heathrow operate runway lighting panels at night to taxi aircraft – a role that requires constant vigilance to ensure that aircraft don’t head down the same taxiway at once. An automated system, May adds, could help work out the best possible routes for aircraft at night.

“That will provide us with efficiency benefits because we can use that system to work out more accurately how long it takes an aircraft to taxi from stands to holding points,” he says. “There are going to be environmental benefits from doing that, because it means that aircraft will have their engines running for shorter times.”

Speeding up ATC operations

In the past, commercial aircraft passing through the majority of airports would be tracked by flight progress strips containing vital information about each aircraft, including call signs, speed, altitude and destinations. However, these strips are steadily bowing out in light of more digital tracking methods.

In the UK, NATS has been steadily deploying its extended computer display system (ECDS), which recreates the strips used by controllers in an electronic format. While moving aircraft from one airspace to another used to require a telephone conversation, this process is now automated, reducing workload and increasing capacity.

In March 2015, London Heathrow became the first airport in the UK to start using time-based separation procedures for aircraft, which are usually required to fly a certain distance apart. With the new system, computer-generated indicators are projected onto a radar during an aircraft’s final approach to provide controllers with better guidance on minimum separation limits during strong headwinds.

“The benefit is that we can get more aircraft landing in a certain amount of time than we were previously when we were limited by the distance between the two aircraft,” says May. “This means that there are less delays and cancellations for passengers and the airport can continue to run very close to normal, even in high-wind situations.”

Separation methods also form part of the US Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) NextGen programme. The FAA is currently deploying two main automation systems across its ATC centres, including the Standard Terminal Automation and Replacement System (STARS) and En Route Automation Modernization (ERAM).

Currently operational at control centres near some of the US’s biggest airports, STARS offers enhanced tracking of aircraft through automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast systems, as well as a data block feature that automatically lists the number of aircraft in airspaces.

“I think what you see now is the first time we’ve actually got the wherewithal to integrate decisions that are not just local but they can have implications regionally,” says Steve Bradford, chief scientist for architecture and NextGen development at the FAA.

Risk of automation in ATC

While automation is already providing operational benefits for controllers, any move to introduce further automation comes with its risks. May says that one of the biggest problems with automation is that it can fail, and it’s therefore necessary for the system to make clear to operators when it has malfunctioned (and for controllers to recognise when this has happened).

Launching new systems is a case of ensuring controllers are trained properly to use it, and that safety nets are in place if things go wrong. For remote digital towers, May says that NATS ensures that there is dual and triple redundancy in everything it does, and that there are multiple camera systems and methods for data to enter the control room.

“If you’re going to give the controller information to use, we need to train them on how to use and manipulate [this] information,” says Bradford. “We can apply the software more quickly than we do, but we take the time to train facilities [to use them].”

Could air traffic controllers be replaced by automated systems altogether one day? Both experts say that although the systems are proven to increase efficiency, for the next 20 years at least, humans will remain in charge.

“I think we can reduce the load on the controller and perhaps makes things more efficient but we’ll always have controllers,” says Bradford.

Article Originally Posted on:

The role of automation in air traffic control

FAA CUTS COST OF TRAINING, PROFICIENCY

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June 27, 2018 By Jim Moore

The FAA on June 27 published a final rule that will allow broader use of technology to reduce the cost of flight training and maintaining proficiency without compromising safety. For years, AOPA has sought and supported these regulatory changes that are expected to save the general aviation community more than $110 million in the next five years.

AOPA has made it a priority to ease the financial burden on students and certificated pilots, and many of the changes made by the FAA that are incorporated in the final version were requested by AOPA and other aviation groups. The FAA’s final rule includes many changes, particularly to Part 61, which were originally published in a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) in 2016.

The Part 61 overhaul will take effect July 27, with all changes implemented by Dec. 24, and will reduce costs to pilots in large part by leveraging advances in avionics, aircraft equipment, flight simulators, and aviation training devices. The new regulations recognize the effectiveness of modern technology and ease past restrictions on its use to further reduce the cost of flight training, as well as proficiency maintenance. They are also crafted to give the FAA more flexibility to approve the use of advanced technologies still to come.

The FAA estimates that pilots and operators will save up to $113.5 million over five years (in 2016 dollars), with the most significant savings to come from allowing instrument-rated pilots, who use advanced aviation training devices (ATDs) to satisfy flight experience requirements, to enjoy six months of currency rather than two. That part of the Part 61 overhaul takes effect Nov. 26. The extended currency interval will also allow instrument-rated pilots to use any combination of aircraft and ATD to accomplish the flight experience required for currency. The FAA estimates (in 2016 dollars) that these changes to FAR 61.57(c) alone will save pilots $76.1 million over five years.

Allowing sport pilots to credit their flight experience toward higher certificates and ratings will increase the value of sport pilot training and save pilots an estimated $14 million over five years. Eliminating the requirement for an instructor to be present while instrument-rated pilots use flight simulators and ATDs to satisfy currency requirements is estimated to save the instrument pilot population another $12.5 million over five years.

In April, the FAA discontinued the requirement that commercial pilot and flight instructor candidates conduct their single-engine airplane practical test in a complex airplane, and the final rule published June 27 takes that a step further. As of Aug. 27, commercial pilot candidates can use “technically advanced airplanes” in lieu of, or in combination with, a complex or turbine-powered airplane to satisfy the 10 hours of required training in these airplanes. This is estimated to save trainees $2.8 million over five years.

“Making aviation less costly is fundamental to AOPA’s mission, which is why we pursued these changes that will save the general aviation community more than $100 million over the next five years alone and help to make pursuing and advancing a pilot’s certificate more accessible to everyone,” said AOPA President Mark Baker.

The FAA, responding to industry comments on the NPRM, also adjusted the definition of “technically advanced airplane” to be broader and more general, adding language to Section 61.129(j) to allow the FAA to authorize use of aircraft that may not meet the requirements as presently written. “This additional language is intended to provide flexibility by allowing the FAA to accommodate future technologies that do not necessarily meet the confines of the regulatory requirements for a TAA in § 61.129(j),” the FAA wrote in the final rule.

Another of the many changes detailed in the lengthy final rule will allow sport pilot instructors with a required endorsement to provide training on control and maneuvering solely be reference to instruments. While the FAA estimates “minimal” cost savings to students, the change will nonetheless increase the value of the sport pilot instructor’s certificate, and benefit flight schools that offer sport pilot training, as well as instructors and students.

AOPA Director of Regulatory Affairs Justin Barkowski led the association’s effort to analyze and respond to the NPRM that preceded the final rule. Among the points successfully pushed, pilots will be allowed to use a combination of complex, turbine-powered, and technically advanced airplanes to satisfy the 10-hour commercial pilot training requirement, instead of having to choose one of the three. Sport pilot instructors will be allowed to receive the required flight training hours in an ATD in order to obtain the endorsement required to teach instrument skills.

Barkowski said he expects the final rule to prompt discussion of what, exactly, a technically advanced aircraft is, and noted that the FAA drafted the final rule to accommodate advances in technology.

“Generally speaking, aircraft equipped with an electronic primary flight display (PFD) and multifunction display (MFD), as well as a two-axis autopilot, would qualify as a TAA,” Barkowski noted. “The language in the final rule gives the FAA discretion to approve other types of TAA in the future without further rulemaking, but we encourage everyone to check the definition to see if your aircraft qualifies, first.”

AOPA also asked the FAA to allow pilots to obtain a temporary document online to confirm medical certification. The FAA determined this particular change is outside the scope of the rulemaking, though the agency noted that a system is being created (the Aerospace Medicine Safety Information System) and scheduled for implementation in 2020 to accomplish this goal.

https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2018/june/27/faa-cuts-cost-of-training-proficiency

Privatization Fight Continues

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By Russ Niles | June 18, 2018

To no one’s surprise, those in favor of splitting air traffic control from the FAA are busy planning their next move. After a last-minute grassroots lobbying effort blocked an amendment snuck into the FAA reauthorization bill passed last month that would have laid the legal groundwork for such a move, the CEO of one of the U.S.’s largest airlines was musing about the next steps in front of a friendly audience at the Economic Club of Washington earlier this month. EAA caught a story in Politico that quoted United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz as saying it’s already a topic of conversation when CEOs meet. “The airline industry is trying to formulate what the next plan would be,” Munoz told Politico “There’s an outline coming together, but it’ll be some time before we all get aligned around it.”

He further said that once the airlines decide what they want they’ll “provide that input and then work with the government to make that move forward.” Well, forewarned is forearmed so EAA says it’s not going to be that easy. “As EAA noted when the ATC privatization proposal in the House was withdrawn earlier this year, any celebration should be tempered with a guarded eye toward efforts by proponents to revitalize the effort in the future,” it said in its recent story. The plan that has so far been thwarted involves setting up a not-for-profit corporation that raises its funding directly from those using the national airspace system. The “user pay” model is opposed by general aviation groups that say the resulting corporation will turn over control of the system to the airlines. “EAA and other GA organizations support the continued modernization of the national airspace system, but not at the cost of equal access to the airspace or minimizing GA’s important role within the nation’s aviation infrastructure,” EAA said in its report.

GAMA, AIA Urge Senate Leaders To Act on FAA Bill

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by Kerry Lynch
 – June 5, 2018, 11:31 AM
The General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) and the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) are urging the Senate leadership to bring the FAA reauthorization bill, S.1405, to the floor for a vote as soon as possible. The Senate Commerce Committee approved its version of the FAA reauthorization bill a year ago, but it had been held up by a provision regarding a measure that would alter the 1,500-hour requirements for pilots, as well as by a lack of consensus with the House over the U.S. air traffic control organization. The House, which passed its version of the comprehensive FAA bill in April, dropped the controversial ATC measure, and Senate Commerce Committee chairman John Thune (R-South Dakota) has long indicated a willingness to drop the 1,500-hour measure.

Even so, the Senate bill has not been scheduled for a vote and the fate of it this year has remained uncertain with some fearing it could get stalled by election-year politics or by other priorities in the Senate. If it does not pass this year, Congress would need to sign off on another FAA extension and then go back to the drawing board with new FAA reauthorization bills next year.

In a joint letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) and Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-New York), GAMA and AIA stressed key reforms in the current FAA bills, including in the areas surrounding certification and regulation, that they said “will benefit businesses large and small, as well as drive industry innovation and job growth.” The bills will stimulate exports and jobs and increase global competitiveness the associations added.

“With similar legislation already having passed the U.S. House of Representatives, we believe now is the right time for the U.S. Senate to decisively act to improve the FAA certification and regulatory process,” the associations said in the joint letter.

The associations stressed the need to act sooner, to provide time for the House and Senate to hash out differences between their respective bills before the end of September, when the current FAA authorization is set to expire.

FAA UPDATES AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS

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May 31, 2018 By AOPA Communications staff

Student pilots and especially flight instructors will want to pay attention to new revisions to the FAA’s airman certification standards (ACS) for Private Pilot—Airplane, Instrument Rating—Airplane, Commercial Pilot—Airplane, and Remote Pilot—Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems, effective June 11.

The revisions, initially developed by the Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee Airman Certification System working group, include some new regulations, such as those accommodating Part 68 BasicMed privileges and limitations. Additional changes include edits to account for the FAA’s recent reorganization, different types of hypoxia, and giving the evaluator discretion to ask for a full aerodynamic stall on a checkride, to name a few.

“The enhancements to the standards are clearly laid out in the beginning of each document,” said David Oord, AOPA senior director of regulatory affairs and chair of the ACS working group. “The integrated standards incorporate all the knowledge, risk management, and skill elements needed for a certificate or rating—clearly defining what an applicant is expected to know, consider, and do in order to pass and to also be a safe pilot.”

The working group consists of experts and stakeholders from both the FAA and industry, working together on a system that connects the certification standards to FAA advisory handbooks, test questions, and the practical test. “The working group’s motto of ‘continuous improvement’ is reflected in the effort to provide predictable, regular updates to the standards,” said Oord. Processes have been established to identify and coordinate any changes to regulations, policies, and/or technologies that will need to be accounted for and incorporated into the standards.

With this set of foundational standards in place, the ACS working group continues its development of the next set of certificates and ratings, including ATP, Commercial Pilot—Military Competence, Aviation Maintenance Technician, Rotorcraft, Powered-lift, and Instructor. Recommendations for those standards and other components of the certification system will be channeled through the Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee for its review and submittal to the FAA, Oord said.

For those who would like additional information, the FAA will host a webinar on June 6 at 2:30 p.m. Central Time to go over the 2018 updates.

The FAA will have ‘zero tolerance’ for anything less safe than current standards when it comes to regulating flying cars

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By Johana Bhuiyan@JMBooyah May 8, 2018, 10:09pm EDT

Uber gathered industry experts, from regulators to private companies, to discuss the future of aviation as the ride-hail company sees it. Specifically, flying cars.

Through its second-annual flying car summit in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Uber wanted to set the stage for what it hopes will be a network of electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles, or unmanned vehicles that use propulsion and rotors to push off and land on the ground vertically.

The company has said it hopes to begin testing a commercial service in Los Angeles and Dallas Fort Worth by 2020, but there are a lot of obstacles Uber has to get over to get to that point. Prime among them is regulation.

In a conversation with Uber Chief Product Officer Jeff Holden, the acting administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration Dan Elwell said that while he is confident the industry will eventually get the technology right, the agency does not expect to compromise on safety in the meantime.

“What I will tell you unequivocally [is] there will be no degradation in safety as we know it today,” he said.

In 2017, there were zero recorded fatalities in crashes of commercial jets on U.S. soil in 2017, for the fourth year in a row.

“You guys are discovering that the public demands a level of safety in aviation that is unlike any other mode,” Elwell added. “There is absolutely zero tolerance for degradations of safety. [The industry has] to come in at a level that’s 100 years in the making. … I’m confident that this industry is going to come to the table not only with the innovative ideas that have been obvious in the past decade but the safety solutions that make it that much easier to put the regulatory umbrella over it.”

Autonomous aerial vehicles are a substantially different mode of transportation to regulate than autonomous cars, Elwell contended, an arena where Uber has faced backlash after a recent fatality.

“It’s completely different than the discussion of autonomous vehicles on the surface,” he said. “It’s pretty much broad acceptance that autonomous vehicles will bring an immediate improvement of safety by the elimination of things that people bring. … We don’t have that assumption with drones yet.”

Elwell has not personally engaged with the company about regulating flying cars, he told Recode, though the agency’s certification and standards experts are in constant dialogue with the industry.

At multiple points, the conversation became a discussion about some of the approaches to managing and perhaps regulating flying cars that Uber is currently contemplating as part of its internal efforts — not all of which Elwell was enthusiastic about. At one point, Holden suggested creating corridors of airspace that is not managed by the FAA but is instead delegated to another entity that only operates flying cars.

“This is a much longer discussion,” he responded.

“What you just described is what we don’t want. You just described segregated airspace,” he continued. “At the scale you’re talking about — especially in complex dense airspace — my hope is we don’t have to do that. Even if you’re going to do EVTOL from airports into the city, my hope is you’re going to be able to do it in an integrated way.”

While Uber does not want to build these new autonomous aviation vehicles itself, it does hope to give its manufacturing and other research partners the tools to create this new technology in order to accelerate the path to having a commercial network of flying cars.

Holden asked at one point: “We’re building air traffic software — we’re doing that optimistically — basically we’re betting that this technology will be used. … What do you think the best way to engage with the FAA is to make sure we’re aligned?”

Elwell responded that the administration is open to collaborating with the industry but will need time to regulate the technology at the current pace of development.

“You’re bringing to the table things that … its not new to us, but the pace of development is challenging,” he said. “So we need to come together with a creative, innovative mindset but collaborative. … The industry is going to bring to us the solutions. The best way [is to] not only bring to us the technology and the explanation of how it works but how it works safely.”

The company announced today that it wanted to have a commercial flying car service up and running by 2023 in some places. Elwell said that timeline might not be too ambitious.

“But I’m certainly not going to make any commitments,” he said.

At one point, Holden interjected with a suggestion for one metric with which the government might measure safety in unmanned aerial vehicles, saying, “It’s probably something like fatalities per passenger mile or something like that.”

“I don’t want to belabor it [but] we have a very sacred public trust that we’ve all worked hard for,” Elwell responded. “When we introduce something as dramatically new as automated flying vehicles, that is a challenge that has to meet the bar. We’re not going to go backwards, we’re not going to say let’s see how it works … we’re not going to have a certain acceptable accident rate.”

Still, the acting administrator, who served in the FAA under the Bush administration as well, said he would ride in an unmanned aerial vehicle himself and that he was confident the technology would be safely developed in the coming years.

FAA rolls out automated system for drone pilots to request airspace

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The Federal Aviation Administration has begun expanding use of an automated system that will help the agency eventually provide unmanned aircraft (UAS) operators nationwide “near real-time” processing of their airspace authorization requests.

The Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC) helps to integrate drones into the airspace, providing operators “near real-time airspace authorizations” to fly in controlled airspace, according to a press release Monday. Under the current rule for small drones, “pilots or operators planning to fly in controlled airspace under 400 ft. must receive an airspace authorization from the FAA,” according to the FAA.

The FAA evaluated last year a prototype LAANC system and is now in the process of rolling out a nationwide beta expansion, which it plans to do in six regional waves, according to the release. The first wave focuses on facilities in South Central USA.

How the nationwide beta expansion goes “will inform future expansions of the capability,” according to the FAA.

The last wave starts Sept. 13, according to the agency.

“What used to take weeks now takes mere seconds,” FAA Acting Administrator Dan Elwell said of the new system, in a videoaccompanying the announcement. “Over the next six months we’ll roll out LAANC at nearly 300 FAA air traffic facilities, in approximately 500 airports.”

Here’s how LAANC works: The FAA has a UAS data exchange, which allows it to share airspace data with the private sector, according to the FAA. Approved companies provide automated apps for the drone pilots to use to apply for authorizations.

The automated process cuts down on the wait time pilots experienced under the manual version, allowing them to quickly plan flights, according to the release.

So far, four companies have entered into an agreement with the FAA to provide LAANC services: AirMap, Project Wing, Rockwell Collins and Skyward, according to FAA’s website. Verizon announced in Februarythat it had purchased Skyward.

The FAA has also been considering adding agreements with “additional entities” to provide such services, the agency said in the release. Suppliers must apply by May 16, and it is not a standard acquisition, according to the agency. There is no request for proposal related to the effort.

“Drone use is increasing every day,” Elwell said in the video. “And the FAA is working hard to integrate them into the airspace.”

Indeed a key piece of the Trump administration’s tech policy in year one was advocating for removing barriers to testing and integrating drones. President Donald Trump even signed in October a presidential memorandum aimed at encouraging the FAA to streamline the drone testing process.

Article provided by Fedscoop :

FAA rolls out automated system for drone pilots to request airspace

Infrastructure & Transportation, News, Politics All Eyes on Senate After Resounding House Passage of FAA Bill

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April 30, 2018 Shaun Courtney

House passage of Federal Aviation Administration legislation with strong bipartisan support may help press the Senate to move its own measure.

The FAA bill (H.R. 4), passed 393 to 13 today, would reauthorize the agency’s drone test ranges, expand its noise mitigation work and bar airlines from bumping passengers involuntarily from flights once they have boarded, among other provisions. Programs would be authorized through 2023; the current authorization expires Sept. 30.

Democrats supported the bill even while opposing provisions such as one, backed by the trucking industry, that would pre-empt state and local laws that limit the hours a trucker can drive. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee ranking member Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), who voted for the bill despite misgivings about language he felt was overly broad, told reporters he hopes to address trucking and other issues in negotiations with the Senate.

“I wish we’d done it two-and-a-half years ago and we could have, absent the extended, protracted debate over privatizing the national air space,” DeFazio said to reporters about the bill’s passage. He wants to see the authorization enacted before September, he said in a statement.

Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters he is working to get floor time. When asked about bringing the bill to the floor next month, he said that “would be nice.”

“We can’t do an extension,” he told Bloomberg Government before leaving town for recess.

SENATE BILL SOON?

The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee approved an FAA reauthorization bill (S. 1405) by voice vote on June 29, 2017. It includes a provision to modify pilot training requirements, generally referred to as the 1,500 hour rule, which isn’t included in the House measure and is opposed by some Democrats, including Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.).

Thune introduced S. 1405 on June 22, 2017, with ranking member Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and the heads of the aviation subcommittee.

Nelson and aviation subcommittee Chairman Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) each want to take up the FAA bill “soon,” they told Bloomberg Government in separate interviews.

“We’ll have a manager’s amendment and obviously we’ll have to deal with the 1,500 hour rule,” Thune said when asked about the Senate process and changes that might be needed. Thune previously indicated he would consider dropping the pilot provision, but hasn’t yet.

“If and when we get it to the floor there will be lots of opportunities to negotiate provisions in the bill, things people want dropped out, things people want to add,” Thune said today.

He’d said he would like to get the bill to the president’s desk before the August recess. There are 44 working days between from when the Senate returns from the April recess to when it leaves for the August recess.

Article produced by Bloomberg Government.

Congress Unveils Amendments to FAA Reauthorization Bill

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The United States House of Congress filed several amendments for the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Bill Thursday, including a focus on pet-transport standards in the airline industry.

After Congress delayed the FAA reauthorization twice over the last year, the new deadline has been set to approve the long-term extension by September 30. Before the deadline, members of the House offered several amendments for consideration.

One of the amendments making the most waves would require the FAA to enact a set of rules that would standardize the treatment of pets transported on planes, including the banning of animals being stored in overhead compartments.

The amendment was added after United Airlines faced backlash due to the death of a dog that a flight attendant forced its owner to put in an overhead bin. The dog was discovered dead when the plane landed at LaGuardia Airport in New York City.

The amendment reads,” Not later than one year from the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration shall promulgate regulations that standardize the treatment of animals aboard airlines. In no case may the storage of a live animal in an overhead compartment be permitted.”

In addition, some of the other changes to the FAA Reauthorization Bill include dueling perimeter-rule amendments related to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and the enforcement of the rule requiring pilots to log 1,500 hours of flight time before being allowed to work as a co-pilot on a commercial aircraft.

 

https://www.travelpulse.com/news/airlines/congress-unveils-amendments-to-faa-reauthorization-bill.html

Long-Term FAA Reauthorization Bill Introduced in House

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By: AJOT | Apr 16 2018 at 07:10 AM | Air Cargo News

Washington, D.C. – Leaders of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee today introduced the bipartisan FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 (H.R. 4), a five-year bill to reauthorize the programs of the Federal Aviation Administration, provide long-term stability for the Nation’s aviation community, continue investment in U.S. airports, and make necessary reforms to improve American competitiveness and safety in aviation.

H.R. 4 was introduced in the House today by the entire bipartisan leadership of the Committee and its six subcommittees, including Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA), Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Ranking Member Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Aviation Subcommittee Chairman Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ), and Aviation Subcommittee Ranking Member Rick Larsen (D-WA).

The FAA Reauthorization Act:

  • Keeps our Nation in the lead in aviation by putting American jobs, American innovation, and the traveling public first.
  • Cuts Washington red tape so that our manufacturers can get products to market on time, stay competitive globally, and continue to employ millions of Americans.
  • Encourages American innovation in aviation technologies to promote a stronger American workforce.
  • Ensures that our airport infrastructure connects our businesses and increasing number of air travelers to the world.
  • Gives the American traveling public a better flight experience.
  • Ensures our system remains as safe as possible for the American traveler and addresses factors related to recent incidents.

“Our aviation system is essential to our economy and to the American way of life,” said Chairman Shuster. “This bill provides many important reforms that will help U.S. manufacturers and job creators lead in a very competitive global marketplace. This legislation ensures long-term investment and stability in aviation infrastructure for America’s large, small, and rural communities, and it addresses issues to help maintain the safety of our system.”

“I’m glad we finally had the opportunity to come together and introduce a bipartisan, long-term FAA reauthorization bill – a bill that gives the FAA long-term funding it needs to do its job and includes mandates to improve aviation safety, to continue leading the world in aviation research and innovation, and to make needed and targeted reforms to critical aviation programs. This bill will also enhance the air travel experience for the hundreds of millions of U.S. passengers who take to the skies each year,” said Ranking Member DeFazio.

“This FAA authorization is the culmination of years of hearings and listening sessions to solicit input from aviation stakeholders, commercial passengers, general aviation pilots and our colleagues,” said Chairman LoBiondo. “In the truest sense, this legislation represents bipartisan cooperation and compromise to advance the Nation’s aviation interests and safety in the skies. Moving a five-year FAA bill with broad bipartisan support through the Congress and to the President’s desk is my top priority as I wind down my Chairmanship of the Subcommittee.”

“Aviation supports more than 30,000 jobs in Washington state and long-term FAA reauthorization will provide stability and economic growth in the Pacific Northwest,” said Ranking Member Larsen. “With this continued commitment to bipartisanship, the difference between the House and the Senate bills is now merely inches apart. I am pleased Congress can move forward on addressing the long-term infrastructure, workforce and aviation safety needs to benefit communities across the U.S.”

H.R. 4 Includes Bipartisan Predisaster Mitigation Measure

The introduced bill also includes the bipartisan Disaster Recovery Reform Act (DRRA), legislation that received overwhelming support in the House in December as part of an emergency disaster aid package. The DRRA provisions of the bill will help communities better prepare for, respond to, recover from, and mitigate against disasters of all kinds.

The DRRA provides broad reforms to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), in particular increasing the federal emphasis on predisaster planning and mitigation to reduce the potential for future loss of life and help reduce the rising costs of disasters.

“The bipartisan DRRA will ensure our communities are more resilient, build better, and build smarter. Ultimately, because of this commonsense, proactive approach to mitigating the impacts of disasters before they strike and not waiting until afterwards to simply pick up the pieces, this legislation will save lives, save property, and save taxpayer dollars,” said Chairman Shuster.

“It is critical we as a Nation do everything in our power to help communities struggling to recover from disasters, but in doing so we must ensure we are building more resilient communities,” Ranking Member DeFazio said. “Climate change is real and the intensity of extreme weather events, and the billions of dollars in accompanying damage, are growing each year. More must be done to better prepare us for the next major disaster, and the bipartisan Disaster Recovery Reform Act is a step in the right direction.”

“I thank Chairman Shuster for recognizing the importance of including the Disaster Recovery Reform Act in the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018,” said Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management Subcommittee Chairman Lou Barletta (R-PA). “After spending tens of billions of dollars on disasters in 2017, America needs a better system to ensure the effective use of taxpayer dollars. Pre-disaster mitigation is one of the most important steps we can take to better approach disaster recovery. We need to work to save lives and taxpayer dollars by building stronger, more resilient infrastructure after disaster strikes. By incentivizing pre-disaster mitigation, my bill will help us save $4 to $8 on the back end for every $1 spent on the front end. It’s time for us to help communities across the nation build better and build smarter.”

“I am pleased to join the leadership of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in sponsoring this important legislation to reauthorize the programs of the Federal Aviation Administration,” said Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management Subcommittee Ranking Member Dina Titus (D-NV). “This bill includes a number of provisions I championed to promote the safe integration of unmanned aviation systems into the airspace, extend Nevada’s UAS Test Range authorization, and promote both worker and traveler safety. I am also pleased that the Disaster Recovery and Reform Act is included in this legislative package. DRRA contains commonsense, bipartisan reforms to help our communities not only respond to ever-worsening disasters, but prepare for them as well. As the major hurricanes and wildfires that impacted millions of Americans from the U.S. Virgin Islands to California have demonstrated, disasters are growing more violent and costly. We must prioritize pre-mitigation activities to make our communities more resilient and better-prepared for the next storm, fire, flood, and earthquake.”