Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization bill

Airport and Airway Safety, Capacity, Noise Improvement, and Intermodal Transportation Act of 1992 - Title I: Airport and Airway Improvement Act Amendments - Amends the Airport and Airway Improvement Act of 1982 to declare that it is a goal of the United States to develop a national intermodal transportation system.

Authorizes appropriations for FY 1993 for airport development and planning projects.

Authorizes appropriations for FY 1993 through FY 1995 for: (1) air navigation facilities; (2) weather reporting services for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA); (3) FAA operations; and (4) expenses incurred in joint financing of air navigation services and in maintaining air navigation facilities. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1994 to augment the Airway Capital Investment Plan, if the Secretary of Transportation (Secretary) determines it is necessary (including a determination with respect to the establishment of more than 23 area control facilities). Amends the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 to revise the minimum Federal appropriation levels which permit imposition of local airport passenger facility fees on airline passengers.

Earmarks a minimum amount of airport development and planning project funds for FY 1993 and 1994 for site selection and installation of one FAA long-range air route surveillance radar system for the portion of northern Maine currently served by approach control at Loring Air Force Base.

Amends the Airport and Airway Improvement Act of 1982 to increase the apportionment of airport development and planning funds for: (1) airports which are served by aircraft providing only air cargo (including mail) transportation; and (2) primary airports. Reduces from 49.5 percent to 44 percent the ceiling on the total amount of all such apportionments in the event any Act of Congress has the effect of limiting or reducing the obligational ceiling for the airway improvement program. Extends the special apportionment treatment of Alaskan airports to those public airports in Alaska that received scheduled service as of September 3, 1982, but were not apportioned funds in FY 1980 because they were not under State or local public agency control.

Requires not less than 2.25 percent of airport development and planning funds for FY 1993 through 1995 be set-aside for development of current and former military airports. Increases from eight to 12 the number of current or former military airports the Secretary must set-aside for development grants to improve the national air transportation system. Authorizes a specified amount of discretionary airport development and planning funds for FY 1993 through 1995 for construction, improvement, or repair of airport surface parking lots, fuel farms, and utilities at such airports.

Requires the Administrator of the FAA, within 30 days after the Secretary of Defense recommends a list of military bases for closure or realignment, to report to the Congress on the effects of any recommendations involving military airbases on local civilian airports and airways, costs of conversion to civilian use, and air traffic control and radar coverage.

Raises from 10 percent to 12.5 percent the minimum obligation of apportioned and discretionary funds for airport noise compatibility planning.

Authorizes the maximum obligation of the United States for airport development and planning projects for FY 1993 to be increased for an airport (other than a primary airport) by a specified amount.

Authorizes the Secretary, in cases where a commercial service airport annually has .05 percent or less of the total enplanements in the United States, to approve, as allowable project costs of an airport development project at such airport, any terminal development in revenue-producing areas and construction, reconstruction, repair, and improvement of nonrevenue-producing parking lots if the sponsor certifies that no project for needed airport development affecting safety, security, or capacity will be deferred by such approval.

Sets the Federal share of allowable costs for terminal development at such an airport at 85 percent.

Prohibits letters of intent issued by the Secretary from conditioning the obligation of funds for airport development projects on the imposition of a passenger facility charge.

Includes as an "airport development" activity the: (1) acquisition or installation at or by a public -use airport of aircraft deicing equipment and structures (other than aircraft deicing fluids and storage facilities for such equipment and fluids) or interactive training systems; (2) relocation of an air traffic control tower and any navigational aid (including radar) if such relocation is necessary to carry out an approved project; (3) construction, reconstruction, repair, or improvement of an airport (or any purchase of capital equipment for an airport), if funded by a grant under the Act, which is necessary for compliance with specified Federal laws, other than construction or purchase of capital equipment which would benefit a revenue-producing area of the airport used by a nonaeronautical business; and (4) acquisition of land for, or work necessary to construct, a pad for deicing aircraft before takeoff at a commercial service airport, including construction or reconstruction of paved areas, drainage collection structures, treatment and discharge systems, appropriate lighting, and paved access for deicing vehicles and aircraft (but excluding acquisition of aircraft deicing equipment and fluids and construction and reconstruction of storage facilities for such equipment and fluids).

Requires as a condition precedent to approval of an airport development project: (1) public availability of any report of the airport budget; and (2) specified kinds of public participation in the project.

Repeals the requirements for an annual report to the Congress on the national airways system.

Includes Alaskan and Hawaiian airports in the coverage of the Act with respect to passengers enplaned on international flights.

Extends the State block grant pilot program for airports through FY 1994. Authorizes the Secretary to designate up to seven (currently, three) qualified States (including Illinois, Missouri, and North Carolina) for participation in such program.

Requires airport owners or operators as a condition precedent to approval of a grant for airport development projects to take necessary action to ensure that at least ten percent of businesses at the airport which provide ground transportation, baggage carts, automobile rentals, or other consumer services are small businesses owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals (disadvantaged business enterprises, or DBE's).

Authorizes the Secretary to allow an airport owner or operator to meet the DBE overall percentage goal by including: (1) businesses operated through management contracts or subcontracts; or (2) the purchase from DBE's of goods or services used in businesses conducted on the airport provided the airport owner or operator as well as such businesses make good faith efforts to explore all available options to achieve compliance with the DBE goal through direct ownership arrangements, including joint ventures and partnerships.

Allows an airport owner or operator, in complying with the DBE goal, to: (1) include the revenues of care rental firms on the airport in the base from which the overall percentage goal is calculated; and (2) require a car rental firm to meet goal requirements through the purchase of goods or services from DBE's, including purchases or leases of vehicles from DBE vendors.

Excludes air carriers that provide passenger or freight-carrying services and other businesses that provide aeronautical activities at an airport from the ten percent goal.

Revises the definition of an eligible "disadvantaged business enterprise" to raise the maximum average annual gross receipts permissible from $14,000,000 to $16,015,000.

Amends the Aviation Safety and Capacity Expansion Act of 1990 to extend the prohibition against the fraudulent use of "Made in America" labels on products sold in or shipped to the United States, and against discrimination by foreign governments against U.S. products, to the award of Federal contracts or grants under a specified section of Federal transportation law or the Airport and Airway Improvement Act of 1982.

Authorizes the Administrator of the FAA to make grants to up to four vocational technical institutions for acquisition or construction of facilities for the advanced training of maintenance technicians for air carrier aircraft. Sets forth grant eligibility requirements. Authorizes appropriations.

Directs the Administrator of the FAA to develop and submit annually to specified congressional committees a report on: (1) the staffing standards used to determine the number of air traffic controllers needed to operate the air traffic control system of the United States; (2) a three-year projection of the number of air traffic controllers needed to operate such system to meet such standards; and (3) a detailed plan for employing such controllers, including projected budget requests.

Directs the Administrator of the FAA to develop and report to specified congressional committees on: (1) the criteria used to determine the required number of aviation safety inspectors; and (2) a three-year projection of the number of inspectors needed, plans for training them, and the support staff needed for the inspector workforce.

Prohibits the FAA from entering into any contract on or before September 30, 1994, with a private person for the operation of an airport control tower at any airport which in FY 1990 had 5,500 or more air carrier operations and 40,000 or more air taxi operations unless the airport owner or operator first agrees to the FAA Administrator's entering into such contract.

Directs the Administrator of the FAA to study and report to specified congressional committees on: (1) the social, economic, and health effects of airport noise on populations within 65, 60, and 55 LDN noise areas to determine the actual level at which noise creates an adverse impact on populations; and (2) the effect of single event noise on populations.

Directs the Administrator of the FAA to require, by regulation, procedures to improve safety of aircraft operations during winter conditions.

Amends the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 to direct the Administrator of the FAA to update and arrange for publication of clearly defined routes for navigating under visual flight rules through a complex terminal airspace area, and to and from an airport located within such an area.

Directs the Secretary to study and report to the Congress on: (1) whether the safety benefits derived from the reflectorization of runways and taxiways of all military airfields under Federal Specification TT-B-1325B should be extended to runways and taxiways of public use airports; (2) the purchase of options to purchase land for airport development, and whether such projects should be funded under the Airport Improvement Program; (3) the current Federal program for monitoring the installation and operation of lighting systems for aircraft obstructions and airport runways; (4) the economic benefits of carrying out airport development projects in "redevelopment areas" under the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965; and (5) the ability of airports which annually enplane .05 percent or less of total enplanements in the United States to finance the maintenance of runways, aprons, and taxiways constructed under the Airport Improvement Program.

Authorizes the Secretary to make grants under the Aviation Safety and Noise Abatement Act of 1979 for projects to soundproof residential buildings if specified conditions are met.

Amends the Airport and Airway Safety and Capacity Expansion Act of 1987 to revise conditions with respect to a release from certain terms and restrictions contained in a certain instrument conveying land on which Laredo International Airport is located to the city of Laredo, Texas. Allows Laredo to grant leases of up to 40 years (currently, 20 years) at below fair market value at the airport.

Directs the Administrator of the FAA to study and report: (1) to specified congressional committees on the current and projected need for air traffic control and related services in the airspace around Tucson, Arizona; and (2) to the Congress on increased air traffic over Grand Canyon National Park.

Directs the Secretary to establish a Civil Tiltrotor Development Advisory Committee to evaluate the technical feasibility and economic viability of developing civil tiltrotor aircraft and a national system of infrastructure to support the incorporation of tiltrotor aircraft technology into the national transportation system.

Amends the Airport Noise and Capacity Act of 1990 to make technical amendments relating to: (1) exemptions from certain conditions on agreements dealing with airport noise reduction and access restrictions on the operation of Stage 3 aircraft; and (2) purchase contract requirements for the operation of certain imported civil subsonic turbojet aircraft with a maximum weight of over 75,000 pounds.

Title II: Federal Aviation Act Amendments - Amends the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 to authorize the Administrator of the FAA to enter into a contract, on a sole source basis, with a State or political subdivision to permit it to operate a level I visual flight rules airport traffic control tower if the Administrator determines that such State or political subdivision can comply with certain safety and subcontracting requirements.

Authorizes, at the discretion of the Administrator of the FAA, the reimbursement of travel, transportation, and subsistence expenses for the security training of non-Federal domestic and foreign security personnel who contribute to civil aviation security.

Requires all persons to give adequate public notice of the establishment or expansion, or the proposed establishment or expansion, of any structure or sanitary landfill where such notice will promote safety in air commerce and preserve the navigable airspace and airport traffic capacity at public-use airports. Directs the Secretary to study and report to the Congress on whether a municipal solid waste facility located within a five-mile radius of the end of a runway may have the potential for attracting or sustaining bird movements (from feeding, watering, or roosting) that may pose a hazard across the runways or approach and departure patterns of aircraft.

Establishes the National Commission to Ensure a Strong Competitive Airline Industry to investigate the financial condition of the airline industry, the adequacy of competition in it, and legal impediments to a financially strong and competitive airline industry. Requires the Commission to submit a specified report to Congress.

Amends the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 to direct the Secretary, in selecting an air carrier to provide foreign air transportation from among competing applicants, to consider, among other specified factors, the strengthening of competition among air carriers operating in the United States in order to prevent undue concentration in the air carrier industry.

Declares that the final FAA rule requiring an increased level of minimum use for high density traffic airport slots shall take effect January 1, 1993.

Directs the Administrator of the FAA to evaluate and report to specified congressional committees on effects of quantities of smoke in the cockpit of an aircraft which could affect the pilot's vision.

Amends the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 to make a technical amendment with respect to civil penalties for violations of the Act.

Title III: Research, Engineering, and Development - Federal Aviation Administration Research, Engineering, and Development Authorization Act of 1992 - Amends the Airport and Airway Improvement Act of 1982 to authorize FY 1993 and 1994 appropriations for specified areas of airway improvement research, engineering and development, and demonstrations.

Directs the Secretary to report to the Congress on the feasibility of requiring commercial airports and/or commercial airlines to employ portable equipment to deice commercial aircraft before takeoff by placing such equipment close to the departure end of the active runway. Requires the Secretary to research to develop new techniques and more efficient fluids and technologies for deicing.

Requires the Administrators of the FAA and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to jointly conduct a research program to develop new technologies for quieter subsonic jet aircraft engines and airframes by the year 2000.

Prohibits a person from affixing "Made in America" labels to products that are not domestic products of the United States. Makes any person that violates such prohibition ineligible for the award of a Federal contract.

Requires the head of each Federal agency conducting procurements to comply with the requirements of the Buy American Act.

Title IV: Aviation Insurance - Amends the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 to authorize Federal agencies to purchase aviation insurance covering any aircraft engaged in intrastate, interstate, or overseas air commerce for any risk (including war risk) if the aircraft operation is in the performance of an agency contract or is for the transportation of military forces or materiel on behalf of the United States under an agreement between the United States and a foreign government.

Extends the aviation insurance program from FY 1992 through FY 1997.

Directs the Comptroller General to review and report to the Congress on the administration of the aviation insurance program during the Persian Gulf conflict in order to determine methods of improving efficiency by reducing the paperwork and time period required for providing such insurance.

Title V: Extension of Airport and Airway Trust Fund - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend the authority of the Airport and Airway Trust Fund through October 1, 1995. Declares that, in the case of certain taxes imposed before January 1, 1993, the amounts to be appropriated to the Fund shall be determined without regard to any increase in a rate of tax enacted by the Revenue Reconciliation Act of 1990.