May 01, 2024

Aviation Safety Subcommittee Chair Duckworth Underscores Urgent Need to Pass Bipartisan Senate FAA Reauthorization Act

 

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – Today, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)— a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation (CST) and Chair of the Subcommittee on Aviation Safety, Operations and Innovation—underscored the urgent need for the Senate to pass the bipartisan Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Act ahead of the May 10th authorization deadline. This bipartisan compromise package would help modernize the FAA, alleviate the continuing aviation safety crisis which led to far too many near-misses in recent years, as well as uphold the post-Colgan safety system and protect the 1,500-hour rule. As one of the authors of the committee-passed package, Duckworth successfully secured the inclusion of several provisions in this that would help improve safety for consumers, expand the aviation workforce, ensure the FAA’s emergency evacuation standards for aircraft reflects real-world conditions as well as enhance protections for passengers with disabilities. If signed into law, the bipartisan FAA reauthorization bill would also extend FAA’s funding and authorities through the Fiscal Year 2028. A full video of the Senator’s remarks is available on YouTube.

Key Quotes:

  • “As a pilot, I know how critical experience is in the cockpit.  It can mean the difference between life and death. As demand for air travel continues to grow, we will continue to need more pilots.  But putting safety first demands that Congress always reject industry efforts to lower pilot qualification standards—and that’s why I worked so hard to make sure our bill left the 1,500-hour rule untouched.”
  • “…while we still have a long way to go to ensure equal access for millions of people with disabilities when flying, if passed, our FAA Reauthorization Act would be one of the most significant leaps taken over the past decade toward improving the air travel experience for the disability community.”
  • “This bill does not fully address the many vexing issues that have come to light since a door plug blew out of an Alaska Airlines flight mid-flight. Congress must look more closely at these issues… But that will take time, and this bill contains urgently needed fixes to address imminent safety risk. We must not delay passage of this FAA reauthorization while we continue our oversight of Boeing.”

 

Remarks as prepared are below:

Mr. President, I come to the floor today in support of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024.

This has been a truly bipartisan, bicameral endeavor, and that’s how it should be. It has taken longer than we’d hoped, but the final product is worth it. 

This bill will empower FAA to aggressively address the aviation system crisis, make our aviation system more accessible for passengers with disabilities, provide historic investments that will enhance our nation’s capacity to recruit and train the next generation of aviation workers and do so without lowering, weakening or watering down the post-Colgan safety system, including pilot qualification standards.

There are many important provisions in this bill, but I want to just highlight a few today.

First and foremost, this bill takes important steps to address critical safety challenges facing our aviation system.

During the pandemic, retirements and buyouts drained critical experience from our workforce. 

The post-COVID surge in demand for air travel put a huge strain on our system and stretched the remaining workforce thin. Near-misses and close calls became so frequent that FAA was forced to convene a safety summit.

Despite this, the close calls keep happening. Over and over and over again.

Just last week, a Swiss Air flight had to abort takeoff at JFK when four other planes were crossing the runway at the same time. 

The week before that, a Southwest jet crossed the runway at National Airport right as a JetBlue flight was starting its takeoff.

The need for Congress to act is urgent, and this bill takes important steps to address safety-critical challenges.

Importantly, our bill also preserves an important pillar of the post-Colgan safety system: the 1,500-hour rule.

As a pilot, I know how critical experience is in the cockpit. It can mean the difference between life and death.

As demand for air travel continues to grow, we will continue to need more pilots. 

But putting safety first demands that Congress always reject industry efforts to lower pilot qualification standards – and that’s why I worked so hard to make sure our bill left the 1,500-hour rule untouched.

Our legislation will also give a much-needed boost to our air traffic controller workforce.

Coming out of the pandemic, our air traffic facilities are understaffed, and our controllers are overworked. 

Last year, only three of 313 air traffic facilities nationwide had enough controllers to meet staffing targets, while controllers are working 60 hours a week to keep up. 

This is dangerous.

These are highly stressful, safety-critical jobs under the best of circumstances. 

Growing this workforce is a safety imperative, and this bill takes aggressive steps to do so.

It will set a minimum hiring target equal to the maximum number of air traffic controllers our academy can accommodate.  It will also require a more accurate staffing model going forward to ensure that there will be enough controllers to meet growing demand and keep the flying public safe.

The bill will also expand deployment of surface detection technology to more airports to help prevent near-misses or worse—actual collisions.

Our bipartisan compromise also advances passenger safety by requiring FAA to finally update aircraft evacuation standards to account for real world conditions.

Federal regulations require that, in the event of an emergency, passengers can evacuate an aircraft within 90 seconds.  However, recent FAA in-person evacuation simulations used only able-bodied adults under age 60, in groups of just 60, on a plane with no carry-on bags. 

On a typical 737, you’d see more than twice that number of passengers. I think it’s safe to say that you’d also see at least a couple—or a hundred—backpacks, and probably some senior citizens, children and passengers with disabilities, too.

So, the fact is, we don’t actually know if an aircraft can be evacuated in 90 seconds in real world conditions—and that’s what is so dangerous.

The Miracle on the Hudson took more than twice that long to evacuate.

In January, when a Japan Airlines crew—miraculously—managed to successfully evacuate nearly 400 people from a burning Airbus A350 – it took closer to 18 minutes.

In 2016, it took more than 17 minutes to evacuate a 767 at O’Hare after the plane came to a stop. 

Carry-on bags slowed down that evacuation, and since then the NTSB has been recommending FAA take a closer look at that issue.

The bill before us today includes a provision Senator Baldwin and I championed to require the FAA to finally do just that, along with mandating the agency actually consider other real-world conditions like the presence of children, seniors and passengers with disabilities.

The FAA bill will also make much-needed progress in transforming commercial air travel to be safer and more accessible for passengers with disabilities.

I was proud and honored to work with individuals and organizations in the disability community when drafting this portion of our legislation.

And while we still have a long way to go to ensure equal access for millions of people with disabilities when flying, if passed, our FAA Reauthorization Act would be one of the most significant leaps taken over the past decade toward improving the air travel experience for the disability community.

Our work builds on a years-long effort by my colleague, Senator Baldwin. I would like to thank her for leadership on the Air Carrier Access Amendments Act, which has been a priority of the disability community for years.

And today, I am happy to say that several important provisions from that bill are included in this reauthorization. 

Today’s bill also includes a new grant program to upgrade airports to make them more accessible for passengers with disabilities.

Two bipartisan, bicameral bills are also included: the Mobility Aids on Board Improve Lives and Empower All Act, or MOBILE Act, which I worked on with Senator Thune and Representatives Steve Cohen and Pete Stauber, and the Prioritizing Accountability for Aviation Consumers Act, which I worked on with Senator Fischer and Representatives Steve Cohen and Brian Fitzpatrick.

I want to thank my colleagues across the aisle and in the House for working with me to show that even in this divisive political moment, we can—and we must—still legislate in a bipartisan fashion on issues that impact Americans throughout every inch of this country, in States both red and blue.

The bill will also help grow the next generation of pilots, aviation mechanics and aviation manufacturing technical workers by expanding FAA’s Aviation Workforce Development Grant Program.

This is critical to meet future demand, which is expected to grow tremendously. The FAA estimates the 696 million mainline enplanements we saw in 2023 will grow to more than 1.1 trillion by 2044. 

I want to thank Senators Moran, Klobuchar, Thune, Kelly, Fischer, Warnock and Capito for working with me to secure the highest levels of investment ever for these grants.

While this initiative may be relatively new, in its short history it has already proven incredibly popular with educational and training institutions—with the demand for grants vastly outstripping supply. 

Our bill will fix this imbalance by drastically strengthening the capacity and capabilities of our Nation’s aviation education and training organizations, with the goal of successfully recruiting and preparing the next generation of American aviation workers.

Before yielding, I want to say a brief word about Boeing.  This bill does NOT fully address the many vexing issues that have come to light since a door plug blew out of an Alaska Airlines flight mid-flight. 

Congress must look more closely at these issues and assess what additional legislation may be needed. As Chair Cantwell has indicated, we will be conducting vigorous oversight.

But that will take time, and this bill contains urgently needed fixes to address imminent safety risk. We must not delay passage of this FAA reauthorization while we continue our oversight of Boeing.

Let’s pass this bill. I yield the floor.

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