PRINTER'S NO. 4683
No. 915 Session of 2004
INTRODUCED BY CAPPELLI, BOYD, BUNT, CLYMER, CRUZ, DALEY,
DiGIROLAMO, FABRIZIO, FAIRCHILD, GEORGE, HERSHEY, JAMES,
MAJOR, McGILL, PALLONE, PAYNE, PICKETT, SAINATO, SAYLOR,
SCAVELLO, B. SMITH, TIGUE, YOUNGBLOOD AND GINGRICH,
NOVEMBER 10, 2004
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION, NOVEMBER 10, 2004
A RESOLUTION
1 Urging the Federal Aviation Administration to fully and properly
2 staff and maintain the Automated Flight Service Station at
3 the Williamsport-Lycoming Airport in Pennsylvania.
4 WHEREAS, The Williamsport-Lycoming Airport in Montoursville
5 Borough, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, is the home to the
6 Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Williamsport Automated
7 Flight Service Station (AFSS), a major FAA flight service center
8 facility, which provides briefing and weather services to pilots
9 throughout the region; and
10 WHEREAS, On a daily basis, the flight service controllers at
11 the Williamsport AFSS provide essential aviation weather and
12 aeronautical information, assist civilian and military pilots
13 with flight planning, perform search and rescue operations and
14 orient lost aircraft; and
15 WHEREAS, Given its proximity to New York City, Philadelphia
16 and Washington, DC, the strategic importance of the Williamsport
17 AFSS cannot be understated; and
1 WHEREAS, The services that are provided by the Williamsport
2 AFSS and other AFSSs across the country are so crucial and
3 intimately related to the public interest as to mandate
4 performance by Federal employees; and
5 WHEREAS, On September 11, 2001, FAA AFSSs were the primary
6 source of vital information for other air traffic control
7 facilities, airports and the nation's general and business
8 aviation communities, and the Williamsport AFSS quickly changed
9 from a provider of weather and flight planning information to an
10 important information source regarding expectations of the
11 resumption of flights in the region; and
12 WHEREAS, The FAA, as the agency of the Federal Government
13 with primary responsibility for the safety of civil aviation in
14 the United States, has, in an effort to save money, hired a
15 private contractor to conduct a competitive outsourcing study of
16 AFSS functions to determine whether it is more efficient and
17 cost effective to have AFSS functions performed by FAA employees
18 or by a contractor, but aviation safety and national security
19 are not among the study's criteria and neither is liability for
20 operational errors and accidents; and
21 WHEREAS, The proper staffing and maintenance of the
22 Williamsport AFSS with a full contingent of station controllers
23 is a fundamental necessity for the continuation of crucial
24 services to civil aviation in Pennsylvania; and
25 WHEREAS, Like the rest of the air traffic control system, the
26 employees of AFSSs deal with the safety of lives and property,
27 both in the air and on the ground, and this important duty makes
28 AFSSs an inherently governmental function; and
29 WHEREAS, The closure or degradation of any AFSS in
30 Pennsylvania is contrary to the public interest, the safety of
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1 civil aviation as administered by the FAA and homeland defense;
2 therefore be it
3 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the
4 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania urge the FAA to recognize that the
5 employees of AFSSs conduct an inherently governmental function
6 and that it is necessary to maintain the staffing standard of
7 station controllers in order to properly staff and maintain the
8 Williamsport AFSS in Pennsylvania; and be it further
9 RESOLVED, That the Chief Clerk transmit copies of this
10 resolution to the Administrator of the Federal Aviation
11 Administration, the United States Secretary of Transportation
12 and to the members of Congress from Pennsylvania.
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