Small Airplane Revitalization Act Clears First Hurdle

July 11, 2013 - The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure on Wednesday unanimously passed the Small Airplane Revitalization Act (H.R. 1848), a measure designed to modernize and revamp the regulatory structure for small, certificated Part 23 aircraft. The bill now goes to the full House for consideration.

On Tuesday, EAA and four other GA associations joined in a letter to the House committee urging support for the measure, which would direct the FAA to implement the recommendations of the FAA's Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) that included EAA and 150 other government and industry experts. Those recommendations include developing more effective, consensus-based compliance standards that would spur new aircraft designs, as well as putting additional lifesaving equipment into the existing fleet of airplanes.

"It is gratifying to see the broad, bipartisan support for this measure in the House," said Doug Macnair, EAA's vice president of government relations. "The unanimous vote in the House committee acknowledges how this bill will revitalize the lighter end of general aviation, which has faced significant challenges in recent years."

The House bill was introduced by Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-KS) and has bipartisan support from 31 co-signers. A companion bill (S. 1072) was introduced in the U.S. Senate in May, sponsored by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).