Less than two weeks ago, the House and Senate’s respective transportation committees unveiled their proposed FAA reauthorization bills and set an ambitious schedule to mark up those bills through their panels and move them onto their floors for debate. NAAA had a weekend to digest 1,200 pages of legislative text and respond to the committees with its feedback about the bills. NAAA engaged in discussions with federal legislators and their staff well before these drafts’ release to ensure the bills included low-altitude aviation safety provisions for manned aircraft from unmarked and unlogged towers and drone avoidance requirements. The House provisions included good language on the tower marking and logging front, but the Senate’s language in this area was bad and downright ugly regarding drone avoidance requirements from manned aircraft.

The Good: The House bill includes Section 228, titled “TOWER MARKING NOTICE OF PROPOSED RULEMAKING,” which directs the FAA to implement section 2110 of the FAA Extension, Safety, and Security Act of 2016 (49 U.S.C. 44718 note). This would supersede section 576 of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–254, 132 Stat. 3391) that gave communication towers the option of either marking or logging towers between 50 and 200 feet in height. If this House provision is enacted, it would require all towers 50 to 200 feet in height and 10 feet in diameter in rural areas to be marked and logged into an FAA database. Furthermore, the House would require the regulation to be promulgated within a year of enactment, and if not, then the FAA Administrator shall:

submit to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate an annual report on the status of such rulemaking, including—(1) the reasons that the Administrator has failed to issue the rulemaking; and (2) a list of fatal aircraft accidents associated with unmarked towers that have occurred over the 5 years previous to the date of submission of the report.

The Bad: Although NAAA advocated the Senate to reverse course from its 2018 amendment weakening communication tower requirements to only mark or log their locations, but not both—even after the NTSB stated that all towers in the 50- to 200-foot range should meet the same marking and logging requirements—the legislative body didn’t budge. It did, however, urge the FAA to promulgate the 2018 rule to mark towers or report why it did not, similar to the House language:

Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this section, the Administrator shall provide a briefing to the appropriate committees of Congress on implementation of the requirements of section 2110 of the FAA Extension, Safety, and Security Act of 2016 (49 U.S.C. 44718 note) (as amended by section 576 of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–254, 132 Stat. 3391)). (b) REQUIREMENTS.—The briefing required by subsection (a) shall include the following: (1) A description of, and timeframe for, the Administrator’s development of requirements to file notice of construction of meteorological evaluation towers and other renewable energy projects under the notice of proposed rulemaking RIN 2120-AK77. (2) A description of the FAA’s use of existing publicly accessible databases to collect and make available information about certain structures that are required to, or voluntarily, file notice with the FAA. (3) For the period beginning on July 15, 2016, and ending on the date the briefing required by subsection (a) is provided, a list of aircraft accidents during such period that are associated with covered towers (as such term is defined in section 2110(b)(1)(A) of the FAA Extension, Safety, and Security Act of 2016 (49 U.S.C. 44718 note) that are not marked in accordance with applicable guidance in the advisory circular of the FAA issued December 4, 2015 (AC 70/7460-IL).

1.  not equipped with a transponder or automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast out equipment; or
2. otherwise not electronically conspicuous.
2. CONSULTATION.—In conducting the study required under subsection (a), the Comptroller General shall consult with—
1. representatives from—
1. unmanned aircraft systems manufacturers and operators;
2. general aviation operators;
3. aerial applicators; and
4. helicopter operators, including State and local governments; and
2. any other person the Comptroller General determines appropriate.
3. REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall submit to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate a report describing the results of such study.

Moving Forward: Before the House marked up its FAA reauthorization bill last week, NAAA joined its general aviation colleagues in a letter to Congressmen Sam Graves (R-Mo.) and Rick Larsen (D-Wash.), the chairman and ranking member of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, in support of their bill’s provisions that are positive to general aviation, including increasing Airport Improvement Program funding to help improve infrastructure at GA airports; reinforcing the FAA’s partnership in the Eliminate Aviation Gasoline Lead Emissions (EAGLE) Initiative, including ensuring the continued availability of aviation gasoline; investing in the next generation of aviators, mechanics, manufacturers and other aviation professionals through the establishment of the National Center for the Advancement of Aerospace; and prohibiting FAA investigations into any regulated person or entity from remaining open for more than two years without a determination being made.