[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 387 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 387

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            February 5, 2015

Ms. Murkowski (for herself, Mr. Wyden, and Ms. Heitkamp) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                 Commerce, Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Safe Skies for Unmanned Aircraft Act 
of 2015''.

SEC. 2. 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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