Legislature(1997 - 1998)
04/02/1997 01:05 PM House TRA
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
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= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
HOUSE TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE
April 2, 1997
1:05 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Vice-Chair Beverly Masek
Representative Kim Elton
Representative Jerry Sanders
Representative John Cowdery
Representative Al Kookesh
MEMBERS ABSENT
Chairman Bill Williams
Representative Bill Hudson
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
*HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 33
"Relating to Federal Aviation Administration approval of
installations of tundra tires on aircraft."
-MOVED CSHJR 33(TRA) OUT OF COMMITTTEE
(*First public hearing)
PREVIOUS ACTION
BILL: HJR 33
SHORT TITLE: FAA FIELD APPROVAL OF TUNDRA TIRES
SPONSOR(S): TRANSPORTATION
JRN-DATE JRN-PG ACTION
03/26/97 849 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRAL(S)
03/26/97 849 (H) TRANSPORTATION
04/02/97 (H) TRA AT 1:00 PM CAPITOL 17
WITNESS REGISTER
EDWARD GRASER, Legislative Assistant
to Representative Beverly Masek
Alaska State Legislature
State Capitol, Room 432
Juneau, Alaska 99801
Telephone: (907) 465-2679
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified on HJR 33.
ACTION NARRATIVE
TAPE 97-19, SIDE A
Number 001
VICE-CHAIR BEVERLY MASEK called the House Transportation Committee
meeting to order at 1:05 p.m. Members present at the call to order
were Representatives Elton, Sanders, Cowdery. Representative
Kookesh arrived at 1:15 p.m. Representatives Williams and Hudson
were absent.
HJR 33 - FAA FIELD APPROVAL OF TUNDRA TIRES
Number 40
VICE-CHAIR MASEK indicated that the committee would consider HJR
33, "Relating to Federal Aviation Administration approval of
installations of tundra tires on aircraft." She invited Mr. Edward
Graser to testify.
Number 104
EDWARD GRASER, Legislative Assistant to Representative Beverly
Masek, came forward to testify on HJR 33. He stated that this
resolution was a message to the Federal Aviation Administration and
the Congressional delegation. It asks them to reverse the rule
that was issued on January 21, 1997 disallowing aviation safety
inspectors from issuing field approvals for tundra tires.
MR. GRASER added that tundra tires comes in various shapes and
sizes. There's a Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) tundra tire
which is still allowed and used by many pilots in the state. These
come in either 24 or 29 inch sizes. There are a lot of Super Cub
pilots that use field approval type tires made by a company named
Air Streak. These are a 29 inch inner-tube type tire that absorbs
a lot of shock in rough landing situations. In recent years a tire
has been developed by a gentleman in Eagle River that use old
racing strips from dragsters for tundra tires on airplanes.
MR. GRASER continued that if the aviation safety inspectors are not
allowed to issue field approvals, these types of tires will once
again have to go through an STC process. This is a certification
process and it's very time intensive and expensive for the
manufacturer. They would probably not do this if aviation
inspectors were allowed to issue field approvals, but if inspectors
are not allowed to issue field approvals, then these types of tires
would not be legal for a while. The STC process takes anywhere
from a year to five years.
Number 300
MR. GRASER referred to a handout in the file which shows that the
FAA in 1995 did flight tests on tundra tires with a Super Cub and
found that the safety problems presented by the use of these tires
was negligible. He stated personally that he's flown a Super Cub
with 30 inch Airstreak, tundra tires, for the last twenty years and
he's never had an accident. These types of tires have prevented
him from having accidents considering the types of terrain he's
landed on. This is the real issue. The only safe way to access
many areas that Alaskans traditionally travel to is with tundra
tires. This resolution asks the FAA to go back to a system that's
been in place for the last several decades on field approval of
tundra tires so people can legally fly their airplanes with this
type of equipment.
Number 386
REPRESENTATIVE JOHN COWDERY stated that he's had experience in
flying and supports this legislation. It comes down to a safety
issue and if a pilot is found out of compliance with this new
requirement essentially their insurance coverage is null and void.
He thought this resolution was very timely.
Number 530
REPRESENTATIVE KIM ELTON pointed out that in the sponsor statement
it states that not using tundra tires can create a safety problem,
but no where in the resolution is the issue of safety mentioned
with the exception of at line page 1, line 16, "Whereas
discontinuing the former practice of allowing field approval of
tundra tire installations will not improve air safety but will
cause significant inconvenience to pilots in Alaska." He added
that significant inconvenience is important but not nearly as
important as safety issues. He felt a new section should be
included to read, "Whereas the use of tundra tires has allowed
Alaskans to pioneer the remote reaches of Alaska and to access
those areas much more safely than through the use of non-tundra
tires."
Number 757
MR. GRASER stated that this was a good point, but unfortunately he
didn't know if the drafter of the resolution was familiar enough
with tundra tires or the issue to fully address safety as well. He
also added that the local members of the FAA in Anchorage have sent
a letter back to headquarters addressing this issue, requesting
that the aviation inspectors in the field be allowed to issue field
approvals. They refused to release this letter since they view it
as an internal matter and they didn't want any information going
public that showed a significant portion of the local members of
the FAA were in opposition to what the headquarters had issued as
a directive. He noted that a member of the Alaskan contingency of
the FAA is in Washington, D.C. right now working to reverse this
rule. He said that Representative Elton's suggestions were well
taken and if the committee so desired they could add this language
as suggested.
Number 775
REPRESENTATIVE ELTON read the proposed amendment into the record
and suggested that it be inserted on page two, after line two.
"Whereas use of tundra tires has allowed Alaskans to pioneer the
remote areas of Alaska and to access those areas much more safely
than through the use of standard aviation tires,". It was decided
that this would be considered a conceptual amendment since there
was discussion on specific language regarding "standard aviation
tires."
VICE-CHAIR MASEK asked the committee if there was any objection to
this Amendment 1. Hearing none, it was so adopted.
Number 834
REPRESENTATIVE COWDERY moved and asked unanimous consent to move
CSHJR 33(TRA), as amended, out of committee with individual
recommendations and zero fiscal note. Hearing no objection, CSHJR
33(TRA) was moved out of the House Transportation Committee.
ADJOURNMENT
Number 925
VICE-CHAIR MASEK adjourned the House Transportation Committee at
1:20 p.m.
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