By: Ben Gielow

On 27 May, the House Committee on Appropriations approved the 2015 Departments of Transportation funding bill (H.R. 4745), which now heads to the floor of the House for consideration next week.  The
report accompanying the bill, which provides further Congressional
intent, includes a number of findings on UAS integration. The text below
is copied from the committee report language:

Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).
The FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 directed the FAA to
integrate UAS into the National Airspace System by 2015. However, it is
uncertain when the FAA can integrate UAS into the nation's
airspace and what will be required to achieve the goal. The lack of an
overall framework for the new systems may be inhibiting progress on UAS
integration. The committee
is concerned that the FAA may not be well positioned to manage
effectively the introduction of UAS in the United States, particularly
in light of a recent ruling by a National Transportation Safety Board
(NTSB) administrative judge regarding the use of a small UAS for
commercial purposes.

Given these challenges, the committee has provided an additional $3 million in the Aviation Safety Activity to expedite the integration of UAS into commercial airspace.   

UAS budgeting. The committee
understands that UAS have very different operating characteristics,
communications and flight planning system requirements than traditional
air traffic operations. However, the resource requirements for
integrating UAS into airspace and the corresponding impacts on the FAA's
capital and operating budgets remains unclear. The committee
directs the FAA to develop an integrated budget for UAS in the fiscal
year 2016 budget request that clearly identifies research and
development needs and the requirements for air traffic control systems
and operations.

Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) research. The
FAA has established six UAS test sites, which are expected to provide
valuable information for developing the regulatory framework for UAS
integration. However, the FAA will need to develop a comprehensive plan
to identify research priorities, including how data from test site
operations will be gathered, analyzed, and used. The committee recognizes these challenges and provides $10.97 million for UAS research, which is $2 million
above the budget request. These additional funds are provided to help
meet the FAA's UAS research goals of system safety and data gathering,
aircraft certification, command and control link challenges, control
station layout and certification, sense and avoid, and environmental
impacts.

Unmanned aerial systems data sharing. Issues with defining the safety data the FAA needs from the Department of Defense (DOD) remain a barrier in its efforts to develop safety standards. The committee directs the FAA to develop a plan to resolve these data-sharing issues with the DOD and to identify what data is needed, why it is needed, and how it will be used.

AUVSI will closely monitor this bill when it comes to the floor to ensure any anti-UAS amendments are objected to.  For more information, contact us at advocacy@auvsi.org.