Sec. 510. Remote tower pilot program for rural and small communities
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Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Transportation shall establish a pilot program under which, upon approval of an application submitted by an operator of a public-use airport, the Secretary shall install and operate at the airport a remote air traffic control tower in order to assess the operational benefits of remote air traffic control towers. The operator of an airport seeking to participate in the pilot program shall submit to the Secretary for approval an application that is in such form and contains such information as the Secretary may require.
From among the applications submitted under subsection (b), the Secretary, after consultation with representatives of labor organizations representing operators and employees of the air traffic control system, shall select for participation in the pilot program 7 airports as follows: 1 nonhub, primary airport. 3 nonprimary airports without existing air traffic control towers. 2 airports with air traffic control towers participating in a program established under section 47124 of title 49, United States Code. 1 airport selected at the discretion of the Secretary.
In selecting from among the applications submitted under subsection (b), the Secretary shall give priority to applicants that can best demonstrate the capabilities and potential of remote air traffic control towers, including applicants proposing to operate multiple remote air traffic control towers from a single facility. If the Secretary receives an insufficient number of applications, the Secretary may reallocate the distribution of airport sites described in paragraph (1).
Prior to the operational use of a remote air traffic control tower, the Secretary shall convene a safety risk management panel for the tower to address any safety issues with respect to the tower. The safety risk management panels shall be created and utilized in a manner similar to that of safety risk management panels previously established for remote air traffic control towers, taking into account— best practices that have been developed; and operational data from remote air traffic control towers located in the United States.
The pilot program shall be eligible for airport improvement funding under chapter 471 of title 49, United States Code. Not later than 30 days after the date that the first remote air traffic control tower is commissioned, the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration shall establish a repeatable process by which future certified remote air traffic control tower systems may be commissioned at additional airports. In this section, the following definitions apply: The term air navigation facility has the meaning given that term in section 40102(a) of title 49, United States Code.
The term remote air traffic control tower means a remotely operated air navigation facility, including all necessary system components, that provides the functions and capabilities of an air traffic control tower. The terms nonhub airport , primary airport , and public-use airport have the meanings given such terms in section 47102 of title 49, United States Code. The pilot program shall terminate on the date that is 3 years after the date of enactment of this Act.