49 U.S.C. § 106 — Federal Aviation Administration

(a) In General. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is an administration inside the Department of Transportation. (b) Administration Leadership. (1) Administrator. The head of the FAA is the Administrator, appointed by the President with the Senate's approval. The Administrator must be a U.S. citizen, must not be an active-duty member of the Armed Forces, must not have retired from the Armed Forces within the past 7 years, and must have experience managing organizations plus experience in a field tied to aviation. In choosing someone, the President must consider whether that person can do the job well. The Administrator serves a 5-year term. Unless subsection (f) or another law says otherwise, the Administrator reports directly to the Secretary of Transportation. (2) Deputy Administrator. The Administrator has a Deputy Administrator, appointed by the President. The Deputy must be a U.S. citizen with organizational management and aviation-related experience. The President must weigh the Deputy's fitness for the job, including the duty to act for the Administrator when the Administrator is away, unable to serve, or the office is vacant. The Deputy reports directly to the Administrator and carries out whatever duties the Administrator assigns. Pay: the Secretary sets the Deputy's yearly base pay, capped at the Administrator's pay. Exception: a retired regular military officer serving as Deputy keeps a rank and grade at least as high as when appointed, and can choose either the Deputy's civilian pay or their military pay and allowances (or retired pay) instead. If they pick the military pay, the FAA must reimburse the military branch for that cost. (3) In this section, "leadership of the Administration" means the Administrator and the Deputy Administrator together. (c) Assistant Administrator for Rulemaking and Regulatory Improvement. The Administrator appoints this official, who must: build and manage a regulatory agenda that meets legal and internal deadlines, including by prioritizing safety-related rules, setting the FAA's regulatory agenda, and coordinating with FAA offices, the Department, and other agencies for timely feedback and approvals; keep final responsibility for meeting internal deadlines and finishing regulatory work inside their own office, not delegating that responsibility elsewhere; regularly review the FAA's existing rules to improve safety, cut unneeded burden, replace rigid rules with performance-based ones where it fits, prevent duplicate rules, and make rules clearer; recommend rules for the periodic review the Administrator does under subsection (f)(3)(C)(ii); handle petitions for new rules or exemptions, replying to each petitioner within 30 days to confirm receipt, confirm the petition is complete, give an early sense of its complexity and how that affects timing, and ask for more information if needed; track exemptions and waivers the FAA grants from its regulations, and figure out when changing the rule itself would be more efficient than repeatedly granting waivers; and issue those rule updates when doing so serves the public better, per the point just before. (d) [Reserved]. This subsection is currently empty, held open for future use. (e) Prohibition on Conflicting Pecuniary Interests. (1) The Administrator and Deputy Administrator (the "leadership of the Administration") cannot own a financial stake in an aviation business, or hold any other job, trade, or profession. (2) Even so, the Deputy Administrator still cannot get paid for teaching without the Administrator's approval first. (3) "Financial interest" means any current or possible future ownership, equity, or security interest; any debt owed to them, or a paid job; or any right to buy such an interest, including a stock option. It does not include shares held through an index fund. (f) Authority of the Secretary and the Administrator. (1) Authority of the Secretary. Except as paragraphs (2) and (3) say otherwise, the Secretary of Transportation runs the FAA's duties, powers, personnel, and activities. When using powers this title assigns to the Secretary or Administrator, neither one may submit their decision to a committee, board, council, or organization for approval, or be bound by that group's decisions or advice, if the group was created by executive order or wasn't specifically told by a law to review that decision. (2) Authority of the Administrator. The Administrator has final say over: hiring and employing FAA staff (other than Presidential and political appointees); acquiring, building, improving, running, maintaining, securing (including cybersecurity), and disposing of FAA property, facilities, services, and equipment, including all FAA-owned parts of the air traffic control system; issuing FAA regulations, rules, orders, circulars, bulletins, and other official publications, except as paragraph (4) provides; and any duty or power the Air Traffic Management System Performance Improvement Act of 1996 gives the Administrator. The Administrator must also advise the President on civil aviation, on anything the Administrator has final authority over, on duties under paragraph (3), on this title generally, and on appointing officers to the FAA. The Administrator may delegate these functions to FAA staff and let them redelegate further, unless a law forbids it. Except where this title says otherwise, and despite any other law, the Administrator does not have to coordinate with, get approval from, or seek advice from the Secretary or any other Department official on matters where the Administrator has final say. (3) Duties and powers of the Administrator. The Administrator carries out the Secretary's aviation-safety duties and powers (except duties tied to transporting, packaging, marking, or describing hazardous material) that are listed in a specific set of sections and chapters of this title and title 51, plus any extra duties the Secretary assigns. Section 40101(d) applies to these duties. They can only move to another part of the Department if a law, or an official reorganization plan, specifically allows it. A decision the Administrator makes carrying out these duties is administratively final. (4) Regulations. (A) In general. The Administrator can issue, cancel, and revise regulations needed to carry out the FAA's functions, following the ordinary federal rulemaking process in chapter 5 of title 5. On a rulemaking petition, the Administrator must act within 6 months — by denying it, telling the petitioner of a plan to deny it, or starting the formal rulemaking process. The Administrator must issue a final rule, or otherwise finish acting, within 16 months after the public comment period ends, or, if an early notice was issued first, within 24 months after the proposed rule was published. Twice a year, on February 1 and August 1, the Administrator must send Congress a letter listing every deadline missed in the past 6 months, why, and when the action will actually happen. (B) Approval of the Secretary of Transportation. The Administrator cannot issue a proposed or final rule likely to cost $250 million or more a year (adjusted for inflation) to state, local, and tribal governments together, or to the private sector, or that counts as "significant," without the Secretary's advance approval. A rule is "significant" if the Administrator, working with the Secretary as appropriate, decides it will affect the economy by $250 million or more a year (inflation-adjusted), raises new or serious legal or policy questions that substantially affect other transportation modes, or substantially and materially hurts the economy, an economic sector, productivity, competition, jobs, the environment, public health or safety, or a government or community. In an emergency, the Administrator may issue such a rule without the Secretary's prior approval — but if the Secretary objects in writing within 5 business days, the Administrator must immediately cancel it. Neither the Secretary nor the Administrator can require a rule be submitted for the Secretary's approval if it doesn't need that approval under clause (i) (aside from emergency rules), or if it's a routine, frequent, or procedural action. The Administrator must send the Secretary any rule that does need approval; the Secretary must approve it or send it back with comments within 30 days, or it is automatically treated as approved. (C) Periodic review. For any significant rule issued after the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024, on top of the usual review already required, the Administrator must review it again 3 years after it takes effect, and may review any rule that has been in effect more than 3 years. The review checks whether the rule's cost estimates were accurate, whether its expected benefit is happening, whether it's still needed, and whether updates should be made based on the standard review criteria. The Assistant Administrator for Rulemaking and Regulatory Improvement manages these reviews and may use an advisory committee or the Management Advisory Council to help. (5) In this subsection, "political appointee" means someone in an Executive Schedule position under sections 5312–5316 of title 5; a limited-term, limited-emergency, or noncareer appointee in the Senior Executive Service; or someone in a confidential or policy-making "Schedule C" position. (g) [reserved]. (h) Technical Center for Advanced Aerospace. (1) The FAA runs a technology center, the "William J. Hughes Technical Center for Advanced Aerospace," used by the Administrator and, if the Administrator allows, by other government bodies, academia, and the aerospace industry. (2) A Director manages the Center. (3) Its work includes: building technology partnerships between industry, academia, and government by connecting outside groups with FAA offices, giving technical expertise, and letting partners use the Center's property, facilities, and systems through agreements; managing technology demonstration grants the Administrator awards; identifying software, systems, services, and technologies that could improve aviation and air traffic control safety, and working with FAA offices to consider using them; supporting co-located facilities and their tenants, including agreements to use their facilities, systems, and technologies where practical; managing the Center's own facilities; and any other duties the Administrator assigns. (i) The Deputy Administrator carries out duties the Administrator assigns, and acts for the Administrator when the Administrator is absent, unable to serve, or the office is vacant. (j) Civil Aeromedical Institute. The FAA runs the "Civil Aeromedical Institute" to conduct civil aeromedical research under section 44507. Its research should draw, where it can, on the abilities of other government agencies, universities, or private industry. (k) Authorization of Appropriations for Operations. (1) Congress may fund FAA salaries, operations, and maintenance at: $12,729,627,000 for fiscal year 2024; $13,055,000,000 for 2025; $13,354,000,000 for 2026; $13,650,000,000 for 2027; and $13,954,000,000 for 2028. This money stays available until spent. (2) From that money, specific spending is authorized: whatever is needed for fiscal years 2012–2015 to run and expand the Air Traffic Control Collegiate Training Initiative; whatever is needed for 2012–2015 to finish 3-D mapping of Alaska's main aviation corridors; whatever is needed for 2012–2015 for the Aviation Safety Reporting System and for developing and maintaining helicopter approach procedures; and set caps for commercial space transportation activities: $75,938,000 (2023), $42,018,000 (2024), $52,985,000 (2025), $59,044,000 (2026), $65,225,000 (2027), and $71,529,000 (2028). (3) Administering the program within available funding. Despite any other law, in fiscal years 2024 through 2028, if the Secretary decides the money from paragraph (1) isn't enough to cover FAA salary, operations, and maintenance costs, the Secretary must cut non-safety-related activities enough to bring costs down to what's available. In making those cuts, the Secretary must first cut spending from sources other than this subsection, section 48101, or section 48103. This paragraph stops applying after October 1, 2028. (l) Personnel and Services. (1) Except as sections 40122(a) and (g) limit it, the Administrator may appoint, transfer, and set pay for officers and employees, including attorneys, needed to carry out the Administrator's job. The Administrator cannot bargain over pay and benefits except as section 40122(a) allows, and isn't bound to set pay or benefits at any particular level. (2) The Administrator may hire experts and consultants under section 3109 of title 5. (3) The Administrator may pay travel and per-diem expenses under chapter 57 of title 5. (4) The Administrator may use the services of personnel from other federal agencies. (5) Voluntary services. The Administrator generally cannot accept free volunteer help if it would replace paid federal employees. The Administrator may cover volunteers' incidental costs, including travel, lodging, and meals. Volunteers count as federal employees only for work-injury compensation under chapter 81 of title 5, and for tort claims under chapter 171 of title 28 — not for any other purpose. (6) The Administrator may enter contracts, leases, cooperative agreements, and similar arrangements needed for the job, with other federal agencies, any level of government, or private parties, on terms the Administrator sees fit. (7) No FAA employee may receive an award, bonus, or other reward tied to meeting speed goals — schedules, quotas, or deadlines — for certificates issued under section 44704. (m) Cooperation by Administrator. With the consent of the right officials, the Administrator may use or accept services, equipment, staff, and facilities from other federal agencies or from public or private groups, with or without paying for them, and may work with officials of those groups on using such resources. Every federal agency head must cooperate by making their resources available to the Administrator, and may transfer supplies, staff, services, and equipment (other than office supplies or equipment) to or from the FAA, with or without reimbursement, despite any other law. (n) Acquisition. (1) The Administrator may buy (by purchase, lease, condemnation, or otherwise), build, improve, fix, run, and maintain air traffic control facilities and equipment; research and testing sites and facilities; and other real or personal property — including office space and patents — inside or outside the United States, as the Administrator considers necessary; may lease such property to others; and may arrange, by contract or otherwise, for eating facilities and other welfare facilities for FAA employees, including buying and maintaining the equipment for them. (2) Title to any property acquired this way belongs to the United States government. (o) Transfers of Funds. The Administrator may accept unspent, leftover money from other federal agencies' budgets, to carry out functions transferred by law to the Administrator, including functions transferred on or after the Air Traffic Management System Performance Improvement Act of 1996. (p) Management Advisory Council. (1) The Administrator must set up an advisory group, the Federal Aerospace Management Advisory Council. (2) The Council has 13 members: one designated by the Secretary of Transportation; one designated by the Secretary of Defense; 5 aerospace/technology members appointed by the Administrator; 5 aerospace/technology members appointed by the Secretary of Transportation; and 1 member, appointed by the Secretary of Transportation, who heads a union representing air traffic control employees. (3) No federal officer or employee may be appointed under the two 5-member categories. (4) Functions. The Council advises the Administrator on issues touching the Administrator's activities, and serves as an oversight resource for management, policy, spending, and regulatory matters under the Administrator. On Administration management, policy, spending, funding, data, safety, international agreements, ICAO activities, and rules affecting the aerospace industry and national airspace, the Council may submit comments, proposed changes, and views to the Administrator whether or not asked, and may ask the Administrator to include those views when reporting to Congress, the Secretary, the public, or the Federal Register. Along with any such submission it publishes or describes, the Administrator may explain any differences between the Council's views and the Administrator's own. The Council must review the rulemaking cost-benefit analysis process and recommend improvements to protect the public interest, and must review how the FAA decides to use advisory circulars, service bulletins, and other outward-facing guidance and regulatory material. Meetings: the Council must meet at least 3 times a year, or whenever its chair or the Administrator calls a meeting. Access to documents and staff: the Administrator may give the Council access to relevant FAA documents and personnel, and must share cost data on acquiring and running air traffic service systems, subject to withholding trade-secret or proprietary information as the Freedom of Information Act allows. Disclosure: any Council member who receives commercial or proprietary data this way is subject to section 1905 of title 18, which bars unauthorized disclosure of such information. (5) Chapter 10 of title 5 (the federal advisory committee law) does not apply to the Council, or to aviation rulemaking committees the Administrator designates, or aerospace rulemaking committees the Secretary designates. (6) Administrative matters. Members appointed under paragraph (2)(C) serve 3-year terms. The union-representative member under (2)(E) also serves 3 years, but that term ends early if the person stops meeting that seat's requirement. A vacancy is filled the same way as the original appointment, except someone filling an unexpired term serves only the rest of it. A member whose term expires keeps serving until a successor takes office. Whoever appointed a member under paragraph (2) may remove that member for cause. The Council elects a chair and vice chair from among the industry members, each serving a 1-year term; the vice chair fills in for the chair when the chair is absent. Members are paid actual travel expenses and per-diem under section 5703 of title 5. The Administrator must give the Council enough staff, information, and administrative help to do its job. (q) Aircraft Noise Ombudsman. (1) The FAA has an Aircraft Noise Ombudsman. (2) The Ombudsman is appointed by the Administrator, serves as the public's point of contact on aircraft noise, and must be consulted whenever the FAA proposes changing aircraft routes, to minimize noise increases over populated areas. (3) Creating this position cannot increase the FAA's total number of full-time equivalent employees. (r) Chief Operating Officer. (1) Appointment. There is a Chief Operating Officer for the air traffic control system, appointed by and answering to the Administrator. The COO must show management ability and aviation knowledge or experience, and is appointed for a 5-year term. The COO serves at the Administrator's pleasure, though the Administrator must try to keep the air traffic control system's leadership stable and continuous. Someone appointed to fill an unexpired term may be appointed for the rest of that term or for a full new term. (2) Compensation. The Administrator sets the COO's base pay, capped at the pay under section 102 of title 3. Post-employment rules under section 207 of title 18 apply as if the COO position were covered by section 207(c)(2)(A)(i). The COO may also earn a yearly bonus of up to 30% of base pay, based on the Administrator's evaluation of performance against the performance agreement. (3) Each year, the Administrator and COO agree on measurable organizational and individual goals in an annual performance agreement, which is reviewed and renegotiated yearly and must cover: keeping the air traffic control system in a state of good repair; continuously improving its safety and efficiency; and finding ways to increase airspace safety and efficiency and to safely integrate all airspace users. (4) Each year the COO must send the Secretary and two congressional committees (Transportation and Infrastructure in the House, Commerce, Science, and Transportation in the Senate) a report containing the performance agreement, an assessment of the COO's performance against last year's goals, and any other information the Administrator asks for. (5) The Administrator may delegate any of the Administrator's authority to the COO, and must delegate at least: implementing the air traffic control strategic plan, including its mission and objectives, performance standards, annual and long-range plans, ways to speed up modernization and safety improvements, and plans to integrate new users into the airspace; overseeing day-to-day air traffic control operations, including modernization, cost savings, training and education, and managing cost-reimbursable contracts; and developing the air traffic control budget request, submitting it to the Administrator, and making sure it supports the strategic plans. (6) Unfunded capital investment needs report. Within 10 days after the President's budget is submitted to Congress, the Administrator must send the Secretary and the same two congressional committees a report on any unfunded air traffic control capital investment needs. For each one, the report must include a summary description, the goal if it's funded, the extra funds recommended, the related Budget Line Item, and any related statutory requirement, and must list them by overall urgency. "Unfunded capital investment need" means a program not funded in the President's budget, tied to necessary modernization or upkeep of the air traffic control system, listed in the latest National Airspace System Capital Investment Plan, and that the Administrator would have recommended funding if more resources had been available or if the need arose after the budget was built. (7) "Air traffic control system" has the meaning given in section 40102(a). (s) Chief Technology Officer. (1) There is a Chief Technology Officer for the air traffic control system, reporting to the COO and appointed by the Administrator, who must have at least 10 years of experience in engineering, systems, or another relevant technical management field, plus aviation knowledge or experience. (2) Duties include: keeping air traffic control technology systems running, maintained, and cyber-secure across the FAA; coordinating the implementation, operation, maintenance, and cybersecurity of these technology programs with industry and other federal agencies; reviewing and advising the Secretary, Administrator, and COO on the FAA's budget, cost-accounting, and cost-benefit analysis for these technology programs; consulting with the Administrator on the Capital Investment Plan before it goes to Congress; developing an annual technology operation and maintenance plan consistent with the annual performance targets; and keeping the air traffic control system's architecture flexible enough to add future technology built by the FAA, aircraft operators, or other private providers. (3) Compensation. Pay is set by the Administrator, in consultation with the COO, capped the same way as the COO's pay; the same post-employment rules apply; and the CTO may earn a yearly bonus of up to 30% of base pay based on performance against the annual targets. (4) The Administrator and COO, working with the CTO, set measurable annual performance targets for the CTO, and the Administrator reports those targets to the two congressional committees. (5) Each year the CTO must send the Secretary and the same two committees a report describing how well the CTO met the annual targets, plus any other information the Administrator and COO request. (t) Office of Whistleblower Protection and Aviation Safety Investigations. (1) The FAA has an Office of Whistleblower Protection and Aviation Safety Investigations. (2) Director. The Director heads the Office and is appointed by the Secretary of Transportation, must show ability in investigations and aviation knowledge or experience, and serves a 5-year term. Someone filling an unexpired term serves only the rest of it. The Director may only perform the duties described in paragraph (3)(A). (3) Complaints and investigations. The Director must: take complaints and information from employees of FAA-certificate holders (if that certificate holder lacks a similar in-house whistleblower or safety-noncompliance reporting process) and from FAA employees, about possible aviation-safety-law violations; assess those complaints to decide if a violation likely occurred; based on that assessment, recommend further investigation or corrective action to the Administrator in writing; take whistleblower-retaliation complaints from FAA employees; coordinate with and help the Office of Investigations and Professional Responsibility, the Department of Transportation Inspector General, and the Office of Special Counsel on retaliation investigations; and investigate retaliation complaints those offices hand over to the Director. The Director must keep a complainant's identity secret unless the person agrees in writing, or the Director decides in an investigation that disclosure is legally required or otherwise unavoidable — in which case the Director must give the person reasonable advance notice. The Secretary, Administrator, or any FAA officer or employee may not stop the Director from starting, doing, or finishing an assessment, or from reporting to Congress about it. In doing an assessment, the Director may access all FAA records needed to determine whether a violation likely occurred. (4) Within 60 days of getting an investigation report, the Administrator must respond in writing to the Director's recommendation, and keep records of any further investigation or corrective action taken. (5) If the Director decides a violation needing immediate correction likely occurred, the Director must quickly report it to the Administrator and the Department of Transportation Inspector General. (6) If the Director has reasonable grounds to believe a federal crime occurred, the Director must quickly report it to the Inspector General. (7) Peer review. Within 2 years of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024, and every 5 years after, the Department of Transportation Inspector General must peer-review this Office, using the most recent relevant peer-review guides where appropriate, and must report to the two congressional committees within 90 days after finishing each review, describing actions taken or planned in response. (8) Whistleblower Ombudsman. The Office includes a Whistleblower Ombudsman, who must know federal labor law and have government experience in human resource management and conflict resolution. Duties: teach FAA employees about bans on retaliation and their rights and remedies; act as an independent, confidential resource for employees to discuss retaliation concerns and their options; coordinate with Human Resource Management, the Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection, the Office of Professional Responsibility, and the Office of the Chief Counsel as needed; coordinate with the Department of Transportation Inspector General's Whistleblower Protection Coordinator and the Office of Special Counsel as needed; and do outreach and help develop training to reduce retaliation and promote timely, proper handling of protected disclosures or retaliation allegations.