[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 819 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 819

To require the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration to 
 use the definitions in section 40125 of title 49, United States Code, 
  in determining whether an unmanned aircraft conducting aeronautical 
   research flights qualifies for public aircraft status under that 
                    section, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 9, 2015

 Mr. Young of Alaska introduced the following bill; which was referred 
         to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration to 
 use the definitions in section 40125 of title 49, United States Code, 
  in determining whether an unmanned aircraft conducting aeronautical 
   research flights qualifies for public aircraft status under that 
                    section, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. PUBLIC AIRCRAFT OPERATING STATUS OF UNMANNED AIRCRAFT USED 
              IN AERONAUTICAL RESEARCH FLIGHTS; SAFETY PROCEDURES FOR 
              SUCH FLIGHTS.

    (a) Public Aircraft Operating Status.--In determining whether an 
unmanned aircraft used in the conduct of aeronautical research 
qualifies as a public aircraft under section 40125 of title 49, United 
States Code, the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration 
shall--
            (1) for purposes of determining whether the aircraft is 
        used for a commercial purpose, use only the definition given 
        that term in subsection (a) of such section; and
            (2) for purposes of determining whether the aircraft, 
        including airborne platforms and systems, is used for 
        aeronautical research and platform-based research, include 
        atmospheric and natural resources research, meteorological 
        observation, and airborne astronomy as aeronautical research.
    (b) Procedures for Beyond-Line-of-Sight Operations.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 90 days after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall develop and 
        implement procedures for safe, beyond-line-of-sight operations 
        in the national airspace system by unmanned aircraft conducting 
        aeronautical research.
            (2) Considerations for approval.--In developing the 
        procedures required by paragraph (1) relating to beyond-line-
        of-sight operations by unmanned aircraft described in that 
        paragraph, the Administrator shall ensure that a decision to 
        approve such an operation takes into consideration the safety 
        of the entire operation, including whether any provisions 
        required to be included in the certificate of authorization for 
        the operation result in additional safety risk to any 
        individual associated with the operation.
    (c) Unmanned Aircraft Defined.--In this section, the term 
``unmanned aircraft'' has the meaning given that term in section 331 of 
the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 (Public Law 112-95; 49 
U.S.C. 40101 note).
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