May 09, 2024

Duckworth Touts Key Priorities She Included in Senate-Passed FAA Reauthorization

Duckworth successfully authored key provisions to help improve flying safety, expand the aviation workforce and enhance consumer protections for travelers with disabilities

 

[WASHINGTON, DC] – 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—highlighted that several provisions she authored and championed to help improve safety for consumers, expand the aviation workforce and enhance protections for travelers with disabilities were included in the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 that passed the Senate on a bipartisan vote of 88-4 today. Alongside CST Chair Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Ranking Member Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Aviation Safety Subcommittee Ranking Member Jerry Moran (R-KS), Duckworth helped author this landmark aviation safety legislation, which would extend FAA’s funding and authorities through Fiscal Year 2028.

“With our nation facing an aviation safety crisis that all too often puts passengers and crew at risk, Congress needed to take action to safeguard the flying public and help ensure our pilots are prepared to meet the challenges this crisis demands—so I’m proud that many of my provisions to help us do just that were included in the FAA reauthorization passed by the Senate today,” said Duckworth. “As Chair of the Subcommittee on Aviation Safety, Operations and Innovation, I prioritized passenger safety above all else and worked hard to ensure this critical legislation upholds strong pilot certification standards, improves accessibility for passengers with disabilities as well as includes my EVAC Act to ensure our emergency evacuation standards are rooted in the reality of flying today. This is a tremendous victory for the flying public, and I hope it can be signed into law as soon as possible to help ensure we maintain the nation’s gold standard in aviation safety for years to come.”

Key priorities that Duckworth successfully included in the bill include:

Safeguarding the 1,500-Hour Rule

In 2009, Colgan Air flight 3407 crashed outside of Buffalo, New York, killing all 50 people onboard. Following this tragedy, Congress passed the Airline Safety and Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act, which required all flight crewmembers operating a commercial aircraft under Part 121 to hold an Air Transport Pilot (ATP) certificate and directed the FAA to update qualifications for such ATP certificates to include a minimum of 1,500 hours. The language, known as the “1,500-hour rule,” gave FAA some flexibility in allowing exemptions for certain structured training programs provided they offer an equivalent level of safety. Despite strong efforts during negotiations over this new FAA reauthorization to roll back or weaken the 1,500-hour rule, Duckworth successfully defended the rule, thus helping ensure that pilots have high levels of training and are prepared in the case of life-threatening emergencies. Since the adoption of the 1,500-rule, only two passenger fatalities have occurred in Federal Aviation Regulation Part 121 operations, marking a fatality reduction of more than 99 percent from before the rule was adopted.

Increasing Aviation Workforce Development

Building on the bipartisan Duckworth-Moran Aviation Workforce Development Enhancement Act, the bill expands the Aviation Workforce Development Grant Program and will increase annual funding levels for FAA Workforce Development Grants from the current $10 million allotted per year to $60 million per year to help expand the aviation workforce pipeline through education and recruitment of pilots and aircraft manufacturing technical workers. After introducing this bipartisan bill in December of 2022, Senators Duckworth and Moran (R-KS) worked with Senators Klobuchar (D-MN), Thune (R-SC), Kelly (D-AZ), Fischer (R-NE), Warnock (D-GA) and Capito (R-WV) to expand support for this program and craft the bipartisan Aviation Workforce Development Recruitment Act, which was included the Senate’s FAA reauthorization bill that passed today.

Improving Aviation Emergency Evacuation Standards

The incident in Japan earlier this year, where a collision on a runway in Tokyo led to an emergency evacuation that took an estimated 5 minutes to execute—more than three times the U.S. 90-second standard—underscored the need to ensure FAA’s emergency evacuation standard is rooted in reality, especially considering the most recent in-person simulation tests conducted by the FAA did not take into account carry-on baggage, children, seniors, people with disabilities and so many other factors that reflect typical flights today. The Duckworth-Baldwin EVAC Act included in this FAA reauthorization bill would require modernization and improvements to aircraft evacuation standards by requiring the FAA to conduct a comprehensive study on aircraft evacuation and empanel a committee of experts and stakeholders—including representatives of the disability community, senior citizens and pediatricians—to evaluate gaps in current evacuations standards and operating procedures and make recommendations. Additionally, the FAA would be required to initiate a rulemaking on any recommendations the FAA Administrator deems appropriate. The FAA would also be required to report study findings, committee recommendations and the Administrator’s plan to implement any such recommendations.

  

Prioritizing Aviation Accessibility for All

If signed into law, the bipartisan FAA reauthorization package will be one of the most significant efforts by Congress in over a decade to make flying safer and more accessible for passengers with disabilities. The package includes all six of the accessibility provisions Senator Duckworth proposed, including:

  1. A New Airport Accessibility Grant Program: New pilot grant program, funded at $20 million per year from Airport Improvement Program (AIP) funds, to help airports make their facilities more accessible.
  2. The Mobility Aids On Board Improve Lives and Empower All (MOBILE) Act: Based on the bipartisan, bicameral bill that Senator Duckworth introduced with Senator John Thune (R-SD) (S. 1459), this provision would require air carriers and foreign air carriers to publish information related to powered wheelchairs including the dimensions of aircraft cargo holds, issue refunds if a passenger cannot fly due to the wheelchair no longer fitting in the cargo hold (e.g., if there was a change in aircraft type) and evaluate the frequency and types of mishandling of mobility aids as well as take actions toward making in-flight wheelchair seating available.
  3. The Prioritizing Accountability and Accessibility for Aviation Consumers Act of 2023: Based on the bipartisan bill Senator Duckworth introduced with Senator Deb Fischer (R-NE) (S. 400), this provision would require the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to publish an annual report on how quickly, effectively and efficiently consumer complaints related to traveling with a disability are received, addressed and resolved by DOT.
  4. The Access and Dignity for All People who Travel (ADAPT) Act: This provision would require the Secretary of Transportation to issue regulations regarding seating accommodations for passengers with disabilities and require the Secretary of Transportation to establish an optional Known Service Animal Travel Pilot Program, providing service animal users the opportunity to participate in a streamlined pre-registration process.
  5. The Equal Accessibility to Passenger Portals (Equal APP) Act: This provision would require the Secretary of Transportation to issue regulations to ensure that customer-facing websites, applications and kiosks of an air carrier, foreign air carrier or airport are accessible. It requires the Air Carrier Access Act Advisory Committee to periodically study web accessibility in this context and requires the Secretary to update regulations as necessary. This language reflects a merging of Senator Duckworth’s Equal APP Act and provisions in Senator Baldwin’s Air Carrier Access Amendment Act (which Senator Duckworth cosponsors).
  6. The Store On-board Wheelchairs in Cabin (STOWIC) Act: This provision would require airlines to provide information on the airline website regarding the rights and responsibilities of both airlines and passengers about the availability of on-board wheelchairs. Under other provisions on personnel training standards regarding assistance of passengers with disabilities, staff would be required to demonstrate every 18 months a knowledge of on-board wheelchairs and accessible lavatories.

Enhancing Passenger Safety by Ensuring Commercial Airlines Have Adequate Emergency Medical Kits On-Board

Since 1986, FAA regulations have mandated that all domestic passenger airplanes with a flight attendant have an emergency medical kit (EMK) containing medications and devices onboard. Aircraft EMKs are used onboard an aircraft in emergency medical situations and are required to contain equipment and medicines like a stethoscope, aspirin, antihistamine tablets and a CPR mask, among other items. The 2018 FAA Reauthorization further required the FAA to evaluate regulations regarding emergency medical equipment on passenger aircraft, but many key medications and medical equipment are still missing from EMKs. Duckworth led this bipartisan provision with U.S. Senator Deb Fischer (R-NE), that would build on the 2018 FAA Reauthorization and ensure the FAA reviews required contents of passenger aircraft emergency medical kits and relevant training for crew members once at least every five years.

Strengthening the Military to Civilian Mechanic Transition

A Duckworth-Blackburn provision was also included that would require the FAA Administrator to issue a final rule to create a military mechanic written competency test; develop, as needed, a relevant Airman Certification Standard to qualify eligible military maintenance technicians for a mechanic certificate with airframe or powerplant ratings; and allows a certificate of eligibility from the Joint Services Aviation Maintenance Technician Certification Council (JSAMTCC) to fulfill the requirement for oral and practice tests administered by Designated Mechanic Examiners. This provision would also expand testing locations operated within military installation testing centers to increase access to testing for active-duty military and increase outreach and awareness regarding the JSAMTCC’s services and the new military mechanic written competency test.

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