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and Sen. Angus King (I-Maine). Inhofe, an avid pilot, stated, “The Plane Act truly sets a positive path for the future of the aviation industry.”
The bill received strong backing from many GA and other aviation groups in which 13 sent a letter in support of the bill in agreement with Inhofe by stating that the bill “sets the stage for the future of general aviation by empowering the voices of pilots, investing in airport infrastructure, and ensuring more opportunities for a trained aviation workforce.”
The NBAA was one of the groups that participated in the endorsement letter and more specifically identified in a release that the PLANE Act would:
= Ensure fairness for pilots by expanding the Pilot’s Bill of Rights, enhancing protections for the aviation community and guaranteeing timely resolution of investigations.
= Encourage investment in general aviation infrastructure including hangars and tarmacs by establishing public-private partnership programs at general aviation airports. Also, this legislation recognizes the important role that airports
play in national disaster relief efforts, as well as providing new access to funding for airport development and other projects.
= Provide fair distribution of aviation federal fuel tax receipts, a portion of which are currently diverted to the Highway Trust Fund. With this change, it ensures aviation-generated user fees are fully distributed to the Airport and Airway Trust Fund to support aviation-related projects.
FAA Adopts International Flight Plan Format
As part of its NextGen initiatives, the FAA has adopted the international flight plan format. Starting Aug. 27, pilots planning civil VFR and IFR domestic and international flights must use the new format.
Aligning the flight plan similar to the ICAO format will allow integration of new capabilities such as Performance Based Navigation (PBN). For domestic operations and aircraft without sophisticated navigational capabilities, many of the data fields are not required. When using FAA and FAA-contracted flight plan filing services, the departure and destination fields will now accept up to 11 alphanumeric codes; any airport, fix or coordinate may be entered.
The new format appears on FAA Form 7233-4, FAA International Flight Plan (Revision 7/2015). KA
SEPTEMBER 2019
KING AIR MAGAZINE • 23