On Thursday, January 21, 2021, U.S. Congressman Ed Case re-introduced his Safe and Quiet Skies Act.

A statement from Caseʻs Office said the proposed measure would impose strict safety and community disruption regulations on commercial air tour operations. Those include helicopters and small planes.

The proposed law would direct the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to adopt tighter safety recommendations long advanced by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

In formal remarks Case said, “In 2019 alone, there were 17 sightseeing tour flight and skydiving accidents nationwide with 37 tragic deaths from 6 of those crashes. In my Hawai‘i alone, we saw 3 dead in the crash of a commercial air tour helicopter into a residential neighborhood, 11 more dead in the crash of a commercial skydiving plane, and then 7 more dead in commercial air tour helicopter crash in a remote mountain region.  Case continued, “My Safe and Quiet Skies Act will further mandate strict regulation of commercial air tour operations to address defense risks and community disruption, including no overflights of defense, park, cemetery and other sensitive installations and minimum altitude and maximum noise limits on all flights. Additionally, it will allow states, localities and tribes to impose stricter regulations on tour flights in their jurisdictions, to include time, route and frequency, with required public engagement.”