Airline Safety and Pilot Training Improvement Act of 2009
Latest action. Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
Airline Safety and Pilot Training Improvement Act of 2009 - (Sec. 3) Requires the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to establish the FAA Task Force on Air Carrier Safety and Pilot Training to evaluate and report to specified congressional committees on best practices in the air carrier industry.
(Sec. 4) Directs the FAA Administrator to conduct a rulemaking proceeding to require air carriers to: (1) provide flight crewmembers with ground training and flight training or flight simulator training to recognize and avoid or recover from a stall or an upset of an aircraft; and (2) establish remedial training programs for flight crewmembers who have demonstrated performance deficiencies or experienced failures in the training environment.
Requires the FAA Administrator to: (1) convene a multidisciplinary panel of specialists to study and report on methods to increase the familiarity of flight crewmembers with stick pusher systems and certain weather events; and (2) report panel findings to specified congressional committees and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), as well as implement panel recommendations with respect to stick pusher systems.
(Sec. 5) Requires the Secretary of Transportation to report annually to Congress and the NTSB on NTSB air carrier safety recommendations made to and adopted or refused by the Secretary.
(Sec. 6) Directs the FAA Administrator to establish an electronic pilot records database of pertinent information in FAA, air carrier, and other records (including the National Driver Register) that an air carrier shall access and evaluate before allowing an individual to begin service as a pilot. Delineates requirements regarding: (1) records updating; (2) pilot access to records, and the right to review and correct inaccuracies found in them; (3) protection of, and electronic access to, records; and (4) air carrier refusal to hire if the pilot does not give consent to an air carrier to receive a record.
Authorizes expenditures for FY2010-FY2012.
(Sec. 7) Requires the FAA Administrator to: (1) issue a specified final rule regarding flight crewmembers and aircraft dispatchers training programs; (2) convene a multidisciplinary expert panel to assess and make recommendations on best methods and optimal time needed for flight crewmembers of commercial and of commuter or on-demand air carriers to master aircraft systems and certain air maneuvers as well as length of time between training courses; and (3) report to specified congressional committees and the NTSB on panel findings.
The summary continues for 14 more paragraphs. Read it in full on Congress.gov
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Passed House amended" stage on October 14, 2009. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on October 15, 2009: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 111th Congress (2009-10), 383 of the 10,778 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.6 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
JERRY COSTELLO (D-IL) introduced it on July 29, 2009, and 31 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 20 Democrats, 11 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on July 29, 2009, 6300 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 6222 days ago, on October 15, 2009.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 111th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2011 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers