Safe Skies Act of 2026
Summary
What This Bill Does
This bill directs the Secretary of Transportation to modify the FAA's January 4, 2012 flightcrew member duty and rest final rule within 30 days. The modification must make the passenger-operation duty and rest requirements apply in the same manner to flightcrew members in all-cargo operations conducted by air carriers. The bill exempts the modification from Administrative Procedure Act notice-and-comment requirements.
Who Benefits and How
Cargo flightcrew members benefit because they receive the same duty and rest protections that passenger-operation flightcrew members have under the 2012 FAA rule. Aviation safety advocates and communities affected by cargo aviation benefit from reduced fatigue risk.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Cargo air carriers must comply with passenger-style duty and rest limits for all-cargo operations. The Department of Transportation and FAA must modify the rule within 30 days without using notice and comment, and cargo scheduling departments must update crew scheduling practices.
Key Provisions
- Requires DOT to modify the FAA flightcrew duty and rest final rule within 30 days.
- Extends passenger-operation duty and rest requirements to flightcrew members in all-cargo air-carrier operations.
- Exempts the required rule modification from APA notice-and-comment procedures.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Requires the Transportation Secretary to apply FAA passenger-flightcrew duty and rest rules to all-cargo flightcrew members within 30 days, without notice-and-comment rulemaking.
Key Policy Areas
Aviation, Labor, Transportation
Primary Purpose
Requires the Transportation Secretary to apply FAA passenger-flightcrew duty and rest rules to all-cargo flightcrew members within 30 days, without notice-and-comment rulemaking.
Policy Domains
Substantive provisions
Identified Gains
- Cargo flightcrew members
- Aviation safety advocates
- Federal Aviation Administration
Identified Costs
- Cargo air carriers
- Air carrier scheduling departments
- Department of Transportation
- Federal Aviation Administration
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeReferred to the Subcommittee on Aviation.
Referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
Introduced in House
Mr. Carbajal (for himself, Mr. Fitzpatrick, Mr. Garamendi, and Mr. …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "faa"
- → Federal Aviation Administration
- "secretary"
- → Secretary of Transportation
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology