Mark Huber is an aviation industry veteran who has worked in the flight training, aircraft sales, aircraft component, and airport development businesses. He has flight time in more than 50 different and diverse aircraft, including helicopters, aerobatic aircraft, vintage warbirds, jet fighters, business jets and turboprops, and transport-category aircraft. He has jumped out of several of these—on purpose—with a parachute. His defense and aviation journalism has been published in a variety of national and international periodicals.

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Mark Huber

Seven senior Capitol Hill Democrats introduced legislation in both the Senate and the House this week mandating the installation of helicopter terrain awareness and warning systems (HTAWS) and crash-resistant flight data and cockpit recorders on all transport-category (Part 29) turbine helicopters that can carry six or more passengers, regardless of the type of operation flown.&nbsp;

 


The Helicopter Safety Act of 2020 directs the FAA to develop the applicable regulations within 180 days of passage and implement them within one to two years after that. The bill provides that the FAA administrator may exempt any civilian helicopter from the regulations but must justify the exemption to relevant congressional committees.&nbsp;

 


This legislation is initially sponsored by Sens. Feinstein, Schumer, Harris, Blumenthal, Markey, and Gillibrand, as well as Rep. Brad Sherman. Feinstein and Sherman, both of California, were leading proponents of previous unsuccessful legislation calling on the FAA to increase minimum helicopter flight altitudes in the Los Angeles basin.

 


Citing NTSB safety recommendations since 2004 that have urged the FAA to mandate the equipment, Feinstein and Schumer referenced two recent high-profile fatal crashes, the FlyNYON tourist accident in New York City, in which five passengers died, and the California crash that killed Kobe Bryant and eight others this past January. The legislators believe&nbsp;that both accidents could have been prevented or the investigations benefitted from the safety devices, had they been installed.&nbsp;

 


Referencing the Bryant crash, Feinstein suggested that it could have been prevented with HTAWS. “If that helicopter had terrain awareness equipment, the tragedy may have been averted. This commonsense bill will save lives, and Congress should act to pass it immediately,” she said.&nbsp;

News and issues regarding all manner of civil and military rotorcraft and their powerplants, including helicopters, tilt rotors and unmanned air vehicles.

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News and issues concerning general aviation, specifically airplanes and helicopters powered by piston and alternative engines (i.e., non-turbine powered aircraft). Subjects include aircraft, engines, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security and training.

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News and issues relating to the aerospace industry that are related to the science, engineering and business of flight in space involving civil, industrial and military applications, and similar topics related to flight in the atmosphere of the Earth that are not covered more directly by other AINonline subject channels. In other words, both astronautical and aeronautical subjects, except for those aeronautical topics that are specifically covered elsewhere on this website.

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New developments and products in avionics, specifically about aircraft electronics in the cockpit.

News and issues relating to business, corporate and private aviation, primarily regarding turbine-engine-powered airplanes and helicopters. Subjects include aircraft, engines, maintenance, operations, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security, and training.

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