# Plain Language Summary of H.R. 3969

This bill tells the Federal Aviation Administration to create new rules for operating drones beyond what the pilot can see with their own eyes. Right now, drone operators have to keep their aircraft in sight at all times, which limits how they can be used. This bill pushes the FAA to develop regulations that would allow drones to fly farther away, out of the operator's direct line of sight, while still keeping everyone safe.

The FAA has four months to propose these new rules and sixteen months to finalize them. The regulations need to cover several things: how to certify that drones are safe to fly, what equipment and systems drones need to operate safely, how to train and qualify the people flying drones remotely, and how drones can communicate with each other and with air traffic control. The bill specifically wants to make sure agricultural drones can operate this way, since farmers use them for crop monitoring and spraying. The FAA can also approve third-party companies to help check whether drones meet safety standards, rather than doing all the inspections themselves.

The bill also makes it easier for the FAA to approve drone operations while these new rules are being written. It clarifies that drones operating in certain airspace near airports can use special detection systems to avoid other aircraft, and it extends the FAA's authority to approve experimental drone operations through 2033 instead of 2023. Throughout all of this, the bill emphasizes that manned aircraft (planes with pilots) still have priority in the airspace—drones cannot claim the right of way over traditional aircraft.

To provide for a rulemaking on operation of unmanned aircraft beyond visual line of sight, and for other purposes.

Graves, Garret

This bill requires the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to issue rules to update the airworthiness and operating requirements for unmanned aircraft, also known as drones, operating beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) and intended to operate primarily at or below 400 feet above ground level.Specifically, the FAA must<ul><li>establish a means to accept certain proposed standards (e.g., airworthiness standards for unmanned aircraft),</li><li>enable the ability to operate unmanned aircraft for agricultural purposes,</li><li>establish a process by which the FAA may approve or accept third-party compliance services,</li><li>establish protocols for a networked information exchange, and</li><li>establish qualifications and standards for remote pilots operating an unmanned aircraft system (UAS).</li></ul>The bill also transfers to the FAA from the Department of Transportation special authority to use a risk-based approach to determine how UAS may operate safely in the national airspace system.&nbsp;The FAA must use this process to authorize BVLOS UAS operations until it publishes the final rules required under this bill. The FAA must also establish requirements, or a process to accept proposed requirements, for the safe operation of UAS, including for the testing and evaluation of proprietary systems.Further, a UAS operation conducted exclusively within Mode C veil airspace (the airspace within 30 nautical miles of certain airports, from the surface upward to 10,000 feet mean sea level) and that employs specific mitigation measures must be treated as satisfying certain safe operation requirements.