House OKs Delay on Air Safety Device

House heeded pleas by the aviation industry on Monday and agreed to let the government push back the deadline for installation of an anti-collision device on airliners by at least two years.

On a unanimous voice vote, lawmakers passed legislation allowing the Federal Aviation Administration to extend the current Dec. 30, 1991, deadline for installation of the so-called traffic alert and collision avoidance system, or TACAS-II, to Dec. 30, 1993.

The FAA would be empowered to allow even a longer delay if problems continued. The bill also requires a one-year study of the equipment beginning by Dec. 30, 1990.

The Senate has yet to act on the legislation.

A law enacted in 1987 set the current dates for installation of the devices in airliners with at least 30 seats. The requirement would cover 4,000 U.S. aircraft and would cost an estimated $310,000 for each unit, including installation.

Industry groups have complained that the devices, which are not mass-produced, will take a long time to manufacture, install, test and maintain properly. A slower installation schedule was also recommended by the Office of Technology Assessment, a congressional research agency, and supported by the FAA.

TACAS-II can warn pilots of nearby aircraft and suggest a vertical change of course to avoid a collision. A less sophisticated version of the device, TACAS-I, is used by smaller, private aircraft.