07.13.16

Sullivan Supports FAA Reauthorization Bill

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-AK), a member of the Senate Commerce, Science, & Transportation Committee, today supported the reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) through September 2017. The legislation contains several key provisions secured by Senator Sullivan that are important to Alaska.

"With more than 100 communities in our state wholly reliant on aviation to get in or out – including regional centers like Bethel, Nome and Kotzebue – today's reauthorization of the FAA is uniquely important to Alaska,” said Senator Sullivan. “The bill will help maintain Alaska's diverse and remote pieces of aviation infrastructure which are vital to the well-being of so many Alaskans. The legislation also incorporates new airport security measures, while streamlining the third class medical certification process – a major victory for the general aviation community.”

Provisions of importance to Alaska include air traffic control hiring provisions and increased benefits for the general aviation community.

ATC Hiring: 

  • In January 2014, the FAA launched an effort to fill an expected 6,300 air traffic controller vacancies over the next five years. 

  • As a part of that effort, the FAA announced that it was no longer providing any preference to applicants coming out of training facilities, such as Collegiate Training Initiatives (CTI) including one at the University of Alaska-Anchorage, over general public applicants with no training. 

  • The FAA also eliminated hiring first from a category of highly qualified candidates and has instead opted to hire from a larger group of applicants who all meet the minimum qualification standards. Applicants from the CTIs have been particularly affected by this decision, despite its long history of success in preparing students for careers as air traffic controllers. 

  • The bill includes language to reinstate preferences to CTI graduates, as well as eligible veterans, in the hiring process. Other important reforms include the removal of arbitrary exclusionary screening assessments, and the allowance of certain candidates who were previously disqualified by the arbitrary assessments to reapply for a 2014 vacancy announcement.

Third Class Medical Certification Process:

  • The bill reforms and streamlines the third-class medical certification process, significantly lowering the bureaucratic barriers that prevent general aviation pilots from flying. The bill requires the FAA to revise medical certificate requirements to allow most general aviation pilots who have a valid FAA medical certificate, or had one in the last 10 years, to never need to go through the medical certification process again. Other pilots who have never held an FAA medical certificate will only need to go through the process once. For pilots with a medical condition requiring a special issuance medical certificate, in most cases the pilots will only need to go through the certification process once.

Investment in Aviation Infrastructure:

  • The bill also would authorize the appropriation of $175 million from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund in each of fiscal 2016 and 2017 for the Essential Air Service (EAS) program, a program serving approximately 60 communities in Alaska.

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