§44806 Public Unmanned Aircraft Systems and Public Safety Use of Tethered Unmanned Aircraft Systems

Summary

The Secretary of Transportation must issue guidance to make it faster and simpler for public agencies to operate and test unmanned aircraft. The guidance must speed up getting FAA approval (a certificate or waiver), help agencies set up and use test ranges under FAA limits, and explain what agencies must do when flying a public unmanned aircraft without a civil airworthiness certificate. The Secretary must also make agreements with public agencies to simplify approvals. Those agreements must include an expedited review, a decision within 60 business days, a faster appeal if denied, one-time approvals for similar operations for a set period, and permission for public safety agencies to fly unmanned aircraft 4.4 pounds or less under these limits: within or beyond the visual line of sight, below 400 feet, in daylight, in Class G airspace, and more than 5 statute miles from any airport or other aviation site. The FAA Administrator must allow public safety groups to use actively tethered unmanned aircraft under specific rules (such as limits to 150 feet AGL, no flight over non-participating people, visual line of sight, and yielding to other aircraft). Those tethered systems can operate without FAA certificates or airman or airworthiness certification under sections 44703, 44704, and are exempt from section 44805, though the Administrator can still make new safety rules. The FAA must also help federal agencies add sense-and-avoid systems. A “public safety organization” means groups like police, fire, and emergency medical services.