02/25/2014 01:30 PM Senate TRANSPORTATION

        SB  53-AIRCRAFT EMERGENCY RATIONS AND EQUIPMENT                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR EGAN announced SB 53 to be up for consideration.                                                                          
                                                                                                                                
DAVID  SCOTT, staff  to Senator  Donald Olson,  sponsor of  SB 53,                                                              
said the aviation  industry asked Senator Olson  to introduce this                                                              
bill  to  update  statutes  to  current  industry  standards  that                                                              
require more sophisticated  safety and locator  equipment. Section                                                              
1 adds  some conforming  language  relative to  section 2  that is                                                              
new language  saying the  requirements under  (a) in section  1 do                                                              
not apply  to an operator if  they are following  Federal Aviation                                                              
Administration (FAA)  requirements known in the  maritime industry                                                              
as an  emergency position indicating  radio beacon (EPIRB)  and in                                                              
the  aviation  industry  as  an   emergency  locating  transmitter                                                              
(ELT).                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                
1:34:25 PM                                                                                                                    
SENATOR FAIRCLOUGH  asked  how the language  is being  interpreted                                                              
differently now.                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                
1:34:40 PM                                                                                                                    
MR.  SCOTT  said  the  language  is ambiguous  as  to  whether  it                                                              
applies to  an aircraft that  did not start  its flight  in Alaska                                                              
and  will  not  end  its flight  in  Alaska  but  travels  through                                                              
Alaskan airspace.                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR FAIRCLOUGH  said it seems  like they are proposing  to not                                                              
require an airplane  to carry lifesaving equipment  and asked what                                                              
kind they carry now.                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                
MR.  SCOTT answered  if there  is ever  an incident  an ELT  would                                                              
activate and emergency  operations would get there  very quickly -                                                              
weather permitting.                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR FAIRCLOUGH  said she  was thinking  about the  life safety                                                              
of passengers  on board any  particular aircraft and  whether it's                                                              
good to  have this equipment  on the aircraft  and if so,  in what                                                              
quantity.  She understood  there was  a cost  of fuel in  carrying                                                              
excess weight and replacement of food that ages.                                                                                
                                                                                                                                
1:37:31 PM                                                                                                                    
JANE  DALE,  Alaska  Air  Carriers  Association,  Willow,  Alaska,                                                              
supported  SB  53,   saying  it  updates  statutes   with  current                                                              
technology and practices.                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                
1:39:04 PM                                                                                                                    
BOB  HAJDUKOVICH,  President  and   CEO,  Era  Alaska,  Fairbanks,                                                              
Alaska,  supported  SB  53.  He  said there  has  been  a  lot  of                                                              
ambiguity in  this law for  years, but it  was never taken  out of                                                              
context  until a  couple  of years  ago when  the  FAA started  to                                                              
interpret the  state law in  addition its regulations  and started                                                              
questioning  air carriers that  were flying  over the  state's air                                                              
space as  to why they  were not in  compliance with state  law. He                                                              
explained  that  state troopers  had  never  enforced  the law  by                                                              
inspecting aircraft  for survival equipment and that  the original                                                              
intent was  to capture  non-commercial pilots  flying up  from the                                                              
Lower 48  to prepare them  for surviving for  a week in  Alaska if                                                              
they  had  to put  their  plane  down somewhere  here.  As  things                                                              
evolved, the  concepts of satellite  technology and 406  ELTs that                                                              
are  activated  on impact  have  reduced  that worry.  Today,  the                                                              
major issue is accessibility to the accident scene.                                                                             
                                                                                                                                
This issue  came up because the  FAA was specifically  holding ERA                                                              
accountable for  their Dash 8 equipment,  which has 37  seats, and                                                              
requiring them to  carry a sleeping bag per person.  When asked if                                                              
Alaska Airlines,  China Airways, and anybody else  that flies into                                                              
the Anchorage airport  have to be in compliance with  the same law                                                              
they were  told yes. So,  Era took it  all the way  to Washington,                                                              
D.C., and  was told  that it was  between them  and the  FAA, that                                                              
carriers still  need to be in  compliance with their  state's law.                                                              
That's when they started trying to clarify this law.                                                                            
                                                                                                                                
MR.  HAJDUKOVICH  said it's  still  smart  for private  pilots  in                                                              
small  aircraft to  carry survival  gear and  it's also smart  for                                                              
them to  have a 406  ELT. If  they do have  an ELT, waiving  other                                                              
requirements  would be  a fair  tradeoff, because  the best  thing                                                              
that has been  done for aviation  safety in the last 50  years has                                                              
been being able to immediately locate a downed aircraft.                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
His only  question was possibly  defining "real time"  in relation                                                              
to   satellite  tracking   systems   in  subsection   (d).   Items                                                              
(1),(2),(3),  and (4)  have  some redundancy  and  item (1)  could                                                              
potentially exempt  aircraft from  carrying survival  equipment if                                                              
there is  a void in FAA requirement,  so he thought  that language                                                              
could be tightened up.                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                
MR.  SCOTT said  the  sponsor was  willing  to look  at those  and                                                              
tweak language if necessary.                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
1:44:27 PM                                                                                                                    
MIKE  STEDMAN,   co-owner,  Alaska   Seaplanes,  Juneau,   Alaska,                                                              
supported SB  53. He was  also on the  Air Carrier Board  and said                                                              
with  the advent  of  automatic  dependent  surveillance-broadcast                                                              
(ADS-B), real  time tracking of  downed aircraft has  been greatly                                                              
enhanced in the last few years.                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR DYSON  remembered the requirement  to carry a  firearm and                                                              
how that  caused some  trouble when flying  into Canada  and asked                                                              
if that was still a requirement.                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                
MR. SCOTT  directed attention to  AS 02.35.110(a) that had  a list                                                              
of requirements and said a rifle was not it.                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
1:46:37 PM                                                                                                                    
SENATOR FRENCH  asked someone  to describe  what the FAA  requires                                                              
for operations within  the state over uninhabited  areas, since it                                                              
goes away if the aircraft is equipped as required by the FAA.                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
MR. SCOTT  answered 14 CFR  121.353 entitled "Emergency  Equipment                                                              
for   Operations   over   Uninhabited    Terrain"   listed   those                                                              
requirements.                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR   FRENCH   read:  pyrotechnic   devices,   survival   type                                                              
emergency  locator transmitter,  and  survival kits  appropriately                                                              
equipped for  the route to  be flown and  the number  of occupants                                                              
on the airplane  and asked if there was more of  a description for                                                              
the survival  kit, because that  could be interpreted as  having a                                                              
Cliff  Bar for  everybody, but  no  blankets or  snow shoes,  fire                                                              
starter, knife, mosquito netting - nothing.                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
MR.  SCOTT said  he  dug  into that  but  couldn't  find out  what                                                              
"appropriately equipped" meant.                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR FRENCH  asked if you  are equipped as in  (d)(1)(2)(3)(4),                                                              
do  you have  to  have each  one  of those  things  to escape  the                                                              
requirements of (a) or just any one of them.                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
MR. SCOTT said he interpreted them as "or."                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR FRENCH  also remarked that there  was an "and"  on line 20                                                              
and that  lead to his  last question, which  is that (4)  seems to                                                              
be a  combination of  (2) and (3),  which seems redundant  because                                                              
it says  a real-time satellite  tracking system  in (2) and  a 406                                                              
ELT  in (3),  but then  (4) adds  "installed  and operational"  to                                                              
those two pieces of equipment.                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR BISHOP asked if this bill goes to "135 operators."                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
MR. STEDMAN  answered that the  word "commercial carrier"  is part                                                              
135 and part 121.                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR  BISHOP asked  if an  Alaska  Airlines 737  was trying  to                                                              
push back  from the gate  here in Juneau  and either one  of those                                                              
two wasn't operational, it wouldn't leave until they were?                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
MR.  STEDMAN said  that  was correct,  but  the 406  ELTs are  not                                                              
required for transport category jets.                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                
1:52:07 PM                                                                                                                    
SENATOR FAIRCLOUGH  said if  they are  going to  take the  time to                                                              
look at  this bill  further, they  probably need  to go  back into                                                              
section 1 and  on page 2, line  7, that says a sleeping  bag "and"                                                              
one wool blanket  for the smaller planes and maybe  change that to                                                              
"or".                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                
She  was  also   wondering  why,  if  they  believe   the  federal                                                              
government has set  appropriate codes for survival,  that they are                                                              
not tying FAA requirements  directly to this one, so  that when it                                                              
changes  our statutes  are automatically  updated. "Survival  kit"                                                              
should  be described,  because they  want to  make it  easy for  a                                                              
carrier  to provide  safety to those  on the  plane and  eliminate                                                              
wool blankets and sleeping bags if they are not necessary.                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
1:54:13 PM                                                                                                                    
CHAIR  EGAN, finding  no further  questions, said  SB 53 would  be                                                              
held in committee.