§ 27-115-108 - Duties generally.
27-115-108. Duties generally.
(a) It shall be the duty of the department to:
(1) Provide for the examination, rating, and licensing of airports, landing fields, and air navigation facilities available for the use of aircraft;
(2) Adopt rules and regulations for the issuance, expiration, suspension, or revocation of license of airports, landing fields, and air navigation facilities, and of other licenses or certificates that the department deems necessary in administering the functions vested in the department under this chapter and chapter 116 of this title;
(3) Establish, set apart, and provide for the protection of necessary air space reservations within the state in addition to, and not in conflict with, air space reservations established by the President of the United States, or any department of the United States or with any civil or military airway designated under the provisions of the Air Commerce Act and the amendments thereto, or other act of Congress pertaining thereto;
(4) Designate, establish, and chart civil airways within, over, and above the lands or waters of the state and arrange for publication of maps of such airways, utilizing the facilities and assistance of existing agencies of the state as far as practicable. The department shall grant no exclusive right for the use of any civil airway, airport, intermediate landing field, or other air navigation facility under its jurisdiction;
(5) Investigate, record, and report the causes of accidents in civil air navigation within this state;
(6) Encourage the establishment of airports, civil airways, and other air navigation facilities;
(7) Supervise and regulate the safety, adequacy, and sufficiency of all airports, landing fields, and air navigation facilities and equipment used, or to be used, in private or commercial flying;
(8) Adopt rules and regulations governing instruction in flight or ground school offered to student fliers or mechanics when the instruction is conducted by individual flight instructors licensed under appropriate Federal Aviation Administration regulations and adopt rules and regulations governing the safety, adequacy, and sufficiency of airports, landing fields, and air navigation facilities and equipment used, or to be used, in the instruction of student fliers or mechanics;
(9) Adopt rules and regulations for the marking of highways, municipalities, and all other serial markings used throughout the state;
(10) Adopt rules and regulations governing the erection, location, and maintenance of aerial beacon lights and other aerial night lighting equipment within the state;
(11) Exchange with the Federal Aviation Administration, and other state governments through existing governmental channels, information pertaining to civil air navigation;
(12) Enforce the regulations and air traffic rules, promulgated as provided hereunder, through the assistance and cooperation of state and local authorities charged with the enforcement of law in their respective jurisdictions; and
(13) Establish by regulation the minimum safe altitudes for flight, including air traffic rules.
(b) All rules and regulations prescribed by the department, under the authority of this section, shall be consistent with and conform to current federal legislation governing aeronautics and the regulations duly promulgated thereunder and rules issued from time to time pursuant thereto. Nothing in this section shall confer upon the department the power to determine schedules, issue stock, or determine public convenience or the adequacy and sufficiency of service of common carriers engaged in commercial flying within this state.