FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018

Floor Speech

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Mr. GROTHMAN. Mr Chair, I would like to thank the Chairman and Ranking member for their effort to bring this bill forward.

Mr. Chair, I rise in support of my amendment to H.R. 4.

My amendment is intended to offer a pathway to provide authorization for the use of actively tethered unmanned aircraft systems, or UAV's, for public safety purposes, specifically fire engines.

My amendment preserves FAA's discretion to determine the conditions that apply to these operations, while denoting congressional intent for the authorization to cover a wide variety of public safety uses.

My amendment ensures limited UAV operational authority and is available only to actively tethered UAV's that present a lower level of safety risk. This amendment would apply only to systems that:

are physically attached to a ground station with a taut, appropriately load-rated tether that provides continuous power to the unmanned aircraft; and

capable of being controlled and retrieved by such ground station through physical manipulation of the tether.

These tethered public UAV's operating under the authority granted by subsection (a) shall be operated:

within the line of sight of the operator;

less than 200 feet above the ground;

within class G airspace; and

at least 5 statute miles from a tower-controller airport or airport denoted on by the Federal Aviation Administration-with limited exceptions.

My amendment will be a huge asset for our men and women fighting fires and will improve their effectiveness. More importantly, passage of this amendment will help save lives.

I am happy to offer this amendment and look forward to continue working with my colleagues and the FAA to ensure our first responders can utilize this potential resource.

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