Chap. 445.—An ACT to amend the title of chapter 291, Acts 1930, by substituting
the word “airmen” for the words “aircraft pilots” therein, and to amend and
re-enact sections 3775-a to 3775-h, inclusive, and sections 3775-k, 3775-1 and
3775-n, of “An act to amend the Code of Virginia by adding thereto fourteen
new sections, numbered 3775-a to 3775-n, both inclusive, providing for the
safety of aircraft passengers, for the licensing and inspection of aircraft and
of aircraft pilots; authorizing the State Corporation Commission to promulgate
rules and regulations governing the operation of aircrafts, providing for the
issuance of permits for the establishment of airports; providing for the super-
vision of said airports; fixing penalties for violation of the sections embraced
in this bill, and to repeal chapter 463 of the Acts of 1928,” being chapter 291,
Acts 1930, approved March 24, 1930, by omitting and repealing sections 3775-i
and 3775-j and by adding thereto section 3775-0; providing for the issuance of
cease and desist orders, or injunctions, by the State Corporation Commission
to prevent violations or further violations of this act and/or of its rules and
regulations in pursuance of this act. [S B 300]

Approved March 30, 1936

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That the
title to chapter two hundred and ninety-one, Acts nineteen hundred
and thirty, be, and it hereby is, amended by substituting the word
“airmen” for the words “aircraft pilots’ therein, and that sections
thirty-seven hundred and seventy-five-a to thirty-seven hundred and
seventy-five-h, both inclusive, and sections thirty-seven hundred and
seventy-five-k, thirty-seven hundred and seventy-five-] and thirty-seven
hundred and seventy-five-n of “an act to amend the Code of Virginia
by adding thereto fourteen new sections numbered thirty-seven hun-
dred and seventy-five-a to thirty-seven hundred and seventy-five-n, both
inclusive, providing for the safety of aircraft passengers; for the
licensing and inspection of aircraft and of aircraft pilots; authorizing
the State Corporation Commission to promulgate rules and regulations
governing the operation of aircrafts; providing for the issuance of
permits for the establishment of airports; providing for the supervision
of said airports; fixing penalties for violation of the sections embraced
in this bill, and to repeal chapter four hundred and sixty-three of the
Acts of nineteen hundred and twenty-eight,” being chapter two hundred
and ninety-one, Acts nineteen hundred and thirty, approved March
twenty-fourth, nineteen hundred and thirty, be, and they hereby are
amended and re-enacted; that sections thirty-seven hundred and
seventy-five-i and thirty-seven hundred and seventy-five-j thereof be
omitted and repealed and that there be one new section, thirty-seven
hundred and seventy-five-o, providing for the issuance of cease and
desist orders, or injunctions, by the State Corporation Commission to
prevent violations, or further violations of this act and/or of its rules
and regulations in pursuance of this act, so that the entire act so
amended, after omissions, and with additions will read as follows:

Sections 3775-a. In this chapter aircraft means any contrivance now
known or hereafter invented, used or designed for navigation of or
flight in the air, except a parachute or other contrivance designed for
such navigation but used primarily as safety equipment. The term
“public aircraft”? means an aircraft used exclusively in the service of
the State or Federal government. The term “civil aircraft” means any
aircraft other than a public aircraft. The term “airman” means any
individual, including the person in command and any pilot, mechanic
or member of the crew who engages in the navigation of aircraft while
underway, and any individual who is in charge of the inspection, over-
hauling or repairing of aircraft.

Section 3775-b. The State Corporation Commission shall administer
the provisions of this act and for such purpose is authorized to promul-
gate such rules and regulations relating to air traffic, construction and
inspection of airships, qualification and licensing of air pilots, stunt
flying, and such other kindred matters and things as the said commission
may deem proper and necessary to promote and develop safe traffic by
aircraft; provided such rules and regulations shall conform to and
coincide with, so far as possible, the provisions of the Air Commerce
Act nineteen hundred and twenty-six and amendments thereto, passed
by the Congress of the United States and the traffic regulations and
air traffic rules issued pursuant thereto by the Department of Commerce.

Section 3775-c. Except as hereinafter provided, no civil aircraft
shall be flown in this State unless such aircraft shall have been licensed
under Federal law and unless also such aircraft is licensed as provided
by section thirty-seven hundred and seventy-five-g of this act.

Section 3775-d. Except as hereinafter provided, no person shall
act as an airman of any civil aircraft when such aircraft is flown or
operated in this State until he shall have been licensed under Federal
law and also until he shall have obtained a license as provided in sec-
tion thirty-seven hundred and seventy-five-h of this act.

Section 3775-e. Non-residents of this State may operate aircraft
engaged in operations other than for hire or reward in accordance
with rules and regulations to be promulgated by the State Corporation
Commission for such operation provided such non-resident and the air-
craft to be so operated shall have been licensed under Federal law and
shall have complied with the laws of the State in which such non-
resident resides relative to aircraft and the operation thereof.
Section 3775-f. Non-residents of this State may operate aircraft
for hire or reward in this State provided such non-resident and the
aircraft to be so operated shall have been licensed under Federal law
and shall have complied with the laws of the State in which such non-
resident resides relative to aircraft and the operation thereof, and
provided such operation shall be in accordance with the rules and
regulations of the State Corporation Commission promulgated in ac-
cordance with this act, and, provided, further, that such non-resident
shall obtain a permit for such operation from the State Corporation
Commission,

Section 3775-g. The State Corporation Commission shall provide
for the issuance and expiration, for the suspension and revocation of
licenses of civil aircraft in accordance with regulations promulgated
by it.

Section 3775-h. The State Corporation Commission shall provide
for the issuance and expiration, and for the suspension and revocation
of licenses as airman to persons applying therefor in accordance with
regulations promulgated by it.

Section 3775-k. The provisions of this act shall not apply to public
aircraft owned by the Government of the United States or the State
of Virginia.

Section 3775-1. It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, corpora-
tion, city, county, or department of government to operate or conduct
any airport or landing field for the landing or departure of any civil
aircraft engaged in commercial aviation until a permit therefor shall
be issued by the State Corporation Commission. Before issuing such
permit the said State Corporation Commission shall investigate the
location of such airport with relation to its proximity to any other
airport and provisions made for the safety of aircraft alighting thereon
or departing therefrom, and if the said proposed airport shall be so
situated as to endanger aircraft using the same or any other airport
in close proximity, or proper provisions have not been made in other
respects for the safety of aircraft alighting thereon or departing there-
from, the said permit shall not be granted; provided, further, any
interested party aggrieved by the granting or refusal of any such permit
shall have an appeal as of right to the Supreme Court of Appeals of
Virginia, which shall hear and determine the case in the same manner
as appeals are now heard from the action of the said commission on
applications to operate motor busses for transportation of passengers
or freight.

Section 3775-n. Any person violating any of the provisions of this
act, or violating any of the rules or regulations promulgated pursuant
to the provisions hereof by the State Corporation Commission, shall be
deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be punished
by fine of not more than one hundred dollars or imprisonment in jail
not exceeding one month, or both, in the discretion of the judge or
jury trying the case, provided that any person, firm or corporation
(excepting any city, county, incorporated town and department of gov-
ernment) establishing or conducting an airport without first obtaining
a permit as provided in section thirty-seven hundred and seventy-five-h
hereof, shall, upon conviction, be fined not less than one hundred nor
more than five hundred dollars for each offense, and each day that
the said airport may be conducted without said permit shall be con-
strued as a separate offense ; provided, further, that the making of any
violation hereof a misdemeanor and the fines and penalties hereby im-
posed shall be cumulative with the injunctive powers conferred upon
the State Corporation Commission hereinafter and that neither the
prosecution hereunder, nor the imposition or payment of fines or penal-
ties shall anywise preclude, impair or affect the jurisdiction of the com-
mission to issue cease and desist orders, or injunctions, nor shall the
issuance of, or pendency of a proceeding for, or the dismissal of a
proceeding for, a cease and desist order, or injunction, or the dissolving
of an injunction already issued, preclude or affect in any manner
jurisdiction of the courts as to any misdemeanor hereunder, except that
evidence produced before either such kind of tribunal may be used
before the other only for purposes of establishing admissions of parties
and/or for impeachment of witnesses, under applicable rules of evi-
dence.

Section 3775-0. The State Corporation Commission shall have
jurisdiction at the instance of any resident of this State, upon affidavit
by such resident duly sworn to, or of its own motion, and upon such
facts and established in such manner, as required in a court of equity,
for purposes of an injunction, after at least five days’ notice to the
party defendant and an opportunity to be heard, said notice to be
accompanied by a statement of the facts and charges upon which action
is proposed, to issue a cease and desist order in the nature of a
temporary injunction and restraining order in the matter of, and against,
any person, firm, corporation, society, or association, or against any
city, incorporated town, or county, which it appears from such facts is,
or in conjunction or in any combination are, violating, or is or are
about to, proposing to, attempting to, or threatening to, violate any of
the provisions of this, or any other act of the Legislature, now or here-
after enacted governing the establishment, maintenance and/or opera-
tion of any airport or landing field, and/or governing the licensing
and/or supervision of airplanes, pilots, mechanics, et cetera, or against
any person, firm, corporation, society, or association, or against any
city, incorporated town, or county violating any of the rules or regula-
tions promulgated by the State Corporation Commission pursuant to
provisions of the law now or hereafter enacted, enjoining and restrain-
ing such person, firm, corporation, society, or association, or any such
city, incorporated town, or county, from any further or future such
violations of such law and/or of any such rule or regulation, and if
said cease and desist order is issued it shall thereafter proceed as soon
as may be after due notice and after a full hearing on the merits to
consider and determine whether or not such cease and desist, or restrain-
ing, order, and injunction shall be dismissed or made permanent, and
any action hereunder shall be analogous to and in accordance with
proceedings in equity for injunctions, except as otherwise specifically
provided, and the commission in this connection shall have power and
authority to require a bond with surety in accordance with the prin-
ciples applicable in the courts of equity of this State, and it shall have
power and authority to exercise a sound, judicial and equitable discre-
tion in the administration of these and all other provisions of the law
with a view to the accomplishment of that measure of protection to the
public contemplated with as little interference with legitimate business
as 1s consistent with the accomplishment of the objects of the relevant
legislation, and the commission shall have authority, by summary pro-
ceeding, to punish, by fine not exceeding one hundred dollars for eacn
offense, and each days operation shall be considered for such purpose
a separate offense, any violation of any such cease and desist order,
or injunction, temporary or permanent, provided that in case of any
such summary proceeding against any city, incorporated town, and/or
county, the imposition of any such fine may be only upon the individual
or individuals by whom any such violation was personally committed ;
provided that nothing herein shall be construed to preclude the juris-
diction of the commission to issue temporary cease and desist orders,
or injunctions, as in the courts of equity of the Commonwealth per-
missible under general laws now or hereafter governing the issuance of
temporary injunctions, in any case of emergency wherein the safety or
welfare of the public is in immediate and imminent jeopardy without
any notice, or with such notice, other than the five days’ notice herein
generally prescribed, as the commission may deem proper.

Any order that may be entered as the basis of the institution of a
proceeding under this section and the issuing of the at least five days’
notice in the discretion of the commission may be kept on a secret
docket and not made public until after the preliminary or final hear-
ing, or indefinitely, as the commission may determine and prescribe
by its order.

All actions of the commission under the provisions of this act shall
be subject to the right of appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeals in
the same manner and under the same terms and conditions as now or
hereafter provided by law.

2. All acts and parts of acts heretofore enacted, even though at
this nineteen hundred and thirty-six session of the Legislature, incon-
sistent herewith, are hereby repealed as completely as if specifically
mentioned herein.