NY State Senate Bill 2019-S7611

Senate Bill S7611

2019-2020 Legislative Session

Relates to requiring helicopters be equipped with flight recorders, cockpit voice recorders and terrain awareness and warning systems

download bill text pdf

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Transportation Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 30, 2020	referred to transportation

2019-S7611 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A10202
Current Committee:: Senate Transportation
Law Section:: General Business Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §243, Gen Bus L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2021-2022: S3604, A1122
2023-2024: S1658, A1100

2019-S7611 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Requires helicopters be equipped with flight recorders, cockpit voice recorders and terrain awareness and warning systems.

2019-S7611 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S7611           Revised 1/30/2020

SPONSOR: BAILEY
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the general business law, in relation to requiring heli-
copters be equipped with flight recorders, cockpit voice recorders and
terrain awareness and warning systems

 
PURPOSE:

The purpose of this bill is to ensure that helicopters are equipped with
mechanisms to help prevent against crashes, and to equip them with
recording devices to ensure that all flight data and cockpit conversa-
tions are accurately recorded.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section 1 of the bill amends section 243 of the general business law to
require that helicopters flown in New York State be equipped with a
flight data recorder, cockpit voice recorder, and a terrain awareness

and warning system.

Section 2 sets forth the effective date.
   
EXISTING LAW:
  The general business law currently does not require that these devices
be installed in helicopters.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

On  January  26,  2020,  basketball  star  Kobe 'Bryant, his 13-year-old
daughter Gianna, and seven others died in a fatal  helicopter  crash  in
Calabasas,  California.  News reports indicated that the helicopter they
flew in was not equipped with a terrain avoidance warning  system  or  a
so-called "black box" of the kind typically found in airplanes.

Last year, Senator Chuck Schumer called on the Federal Aviation Adminis-
tration  (FAA)  to  mandate  flight  data  recorders in all helicopters,
citing a fatal crash in  Manhattan  where  one  person  lost  his  life.
Senator  Schumer  called  on the FAA to "take another look at the NTSB's
reports on chopper crashes similar to the one in New York City just last
week and propel the safety measures that have been collecting  dust  for
far too long."

The  federal  government  has  failed to act. The purpose of this legis-
lation is to ensure that all helicopters in our state are equipped  with
devices that help aviators fly their helicopters safely.

 
FISCAL IMPACT ON THE STATE:

To be determined.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill.

2019-S7611 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   7611
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             January 30, 2020
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  BAILEY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Transportation
 
 AN ACT to amend the general business law, in relation to requiring heli-
   copters be equipped with flight recorders, cockpit voice recorders and
   terrain awareness and warning systems
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  Section  243  of  the general business law, as amended by
 chapter 843 of the laws of 1980, is amended to read as follows:
   § 243.  Aircraft;  construction,  design  and  airworthiness;  federal
 registration.  1.  The  public  safety  requiring, and the advantages of
 uniform regulation making it desirable, in the interest of  aeronautical
 progress, that aircraft to be avigated within this state should conform,
 with  respect  to  design,  construction and airworthiness, to standards
 prescribed by the United States government with respect to avigation  of
 aircraft  subject  to  its  jurisdiction,  it  shall be unlawful for any
 person to avigate an aircraft within this state unless  it  is  licensed
 and  registered by the department of transportation of the United States
 in the manner prescribed by the lawful  rules  and  regulations  of  the
 United  States  government  then in force. The license for such aircraft
 must be carried and  conspicuously  posted  in  the  aircraft  while  in
 flight.  Such license also shall be presented for inspection, on demand,
 to any peace officer, acting pursuant to his special duties,  or  police
 officer,  or  to any official, manager or person in charge of an airport
 or landing place where the aircraft may be.
   2. IT SHALL BE UNLAWFUL FOR ANY PERSON TO AVIGATE ANY HELICOPTER WITH-
 IN THIS STATE UNLESS SUCH HELICOPTER IS EQUIPPED WITH:
   A. A FLIGHT DATA RECORDER;
   B. A COCKPIT VOICE RECORDER; AND
   C. A TERRAIN AWARENESS AND WARNING SYSTEM.
   3. The provisions of this section shall not  apply  to  aircraft  used
 exclusively  in  the  governmental service of the United States, or used
 exclusively in the service of the national guard or of one  or  more  of
 the civil departments of this state.
   § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
 it shall have become a law.

 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD15084-01-0

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