January 11, 2024🇺🇸Legislation

Safe Airspace for Americans Act Introduced in U.S. House

Representatives Robert Garcia (D-CA) and Glenn Grothman (R-WI) introduced H.R. 6967, the Safe Airspace for Americans Act, to establish FAA procedures for civilian UAP reporting with legal protections for pilots and aviation personnel.

Date

January 11, 2024

Location

Washington, D.C.District of Columbia🇺🇸

Type

Legislation

Country

🇺🇸 United States

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Background

On January 11, 2024, Representatives Robert Garcia of California and Glenn Grothman of Wisconsin introduced the bipartisan Safe Airspace for Americans Act (H.R. 6967) in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Background

The bill emerged after years of growing concern about unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) in U.S. airspace. Former Navy pilot Ryan Graves, who founded Americans for Safe Aerospace, had testified before Congress in July 2023 about his own UAP encounters and reported hearing from dozens of commercial airline pilots who had no confidential way to report similar experiences to the government.

Key Details

The legislation requires the FAA to establish procedures for civilian pilots, air traffic controllers, flight attendants, maintenance workers, dispatchers, and airlines to report UAP sightings. Reports would be shared with AARO while providing legal protections: they cannot be used to medically disqualify pilots, airlines are prohibited from retaliating, and federal employees are protected from reprisal. The bill also directs coordination with the Department of Defense, ODNI, NASA, DHS, NOAA, NSF, and the Department of Energy. It strengthens the Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) and mandates a separate system for collecting pilot UAP reports.

Significance

This legislation represents the first congressional effort to specifically address civilian UAP reporting, bridging the gap between military and civilian aviation personnel in documenting unexplained aerial phenomena.