Majority Statement

• Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV

  Chairman

  U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
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  Majority Statement

  Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV

  Some believe that unmanned aerial systems (UAS) – which many people call “drones” – are the latest evidence that robots or machines are going to take over the world. Other people believe these vehicles present a massive opportunity for American productivity and economic growth. The truth probably lies somewhere in between. Unmanned aircraft are a rapidly emerging technology with great commercial potential. But along with this potential there are some serious concerns. Just as we have done in the past, our job is to foster the growth of this new industry while managing the risks. 

  Here is what we know about aviation today: It is a major part of our economy and it is relatively safe. Tens of thousands of aircraft use our skies every day to transport passengers, ship goods, or perform public safety and military missions. Given the large number and the wide variety of aircraft that use our national airspace, our safety record is remarkably good. 

  I am very proud of that record. It’s the product of a lot of hard work by the aviation industry and safety officials at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and other agencies. It’s also the product of some tough lessons learned in the aftermath of some serious accidents. We are going to have to use those lessons as a guide as we confront the latest in aviation technology.

  Improving aviation safety has always been one of my top priorities on this Committee. The FAA Safety Act of 2010 and the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2012 took a lot of important steps to strengthen aviation safety, including developing new pilot fatigue and training rules. Striking the right balance between safety regulations and business realities is always tricky, but it makes all the difference for successful new industries.   

  In the 2012 FAA bill, we told the FAA to begin figuring out how to safely introduce a new kind of aircraft into our national airspace – a type of aircraft that is operated not by pilots physically present in the cockpit, but by operators on the ground.

  Whether we call them UASs, UAVs, or drones, these aircraft are an exciting new development in the aviation industry. But they also raise some serious safety and privacy concerns – that we need to address before the FAA licenses these vehicles for broad use in our national airspace.

  Administrator Huerta is going to report to us today on the progress the FAA has been making on UAS integration. He is going to tell us that the FAA is doing what any safety agency should do before it allows a new vehicle on to a busy highway. The agency is carefully considering the views of aviation safety experts. And it is working with manufacturers to test how unmanned aircraft perform in a variety of real-world situations. Earlier this month, Administrator Huerta announced the locations of six sites where this testing will take place.   

  Some people don’t think the FAA is moving fast enough. But I understand why the FAA is carefully considering these questions. Lives are at stake. One of the most important problems the FAA and the industry are trying solve is avoiding collisions between unmanned and piloted aircraft. A basic assumption of our current aviation safety system is that each aircraft is operated by a human pilot trained to “see and avoid” other aircraft. What should the rules be when an unmanned aircraft and an aircraft with a human pilot and passengers are converging in the air?

  Another significant challenge the unmanned aviation industry faces is a perception problem. Many Americans associate this technology with our military’s use of unmanned aircraft in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. We are all much more familiar with the military applications of unmanned aircraft than we are with their civilian, commercial applications. We are only just now beginning to learn that these aircraft can be used to apply fertilizer to crops, film movies, monitor hurricanes, or, in the future, potentially deliver Amazon boxes to our homes.    

  Unmanned aircraft have tremendous economic potential, but we can’t ignore the threat they pose to our personal privacy. American consumers are already under assault by companies that collect and use our personal information. 

  As we learned in the data broker hearing we held in this Committee last month, there is a multi-billion dollar industry in this country dedicated to tracking our health status, our shopping habits, and our movements. If the data brokers of today controlled UASs, I don’t know what about American consumers’ habits or choices would remain private. People are right to worry that drones in our national airspace could be yet another way for private companies to track where we are and what we are doing.  

  I am looking forward to this discussion today. I want to talk about how our country can benefit from this new technology, without sacrificing our safety or our personal freedoms. I am neither convinced that this technology is only good news nor suspicious that it can never be properly regulated. I think today’s hearing will tell us there’s a lot more we all should know before we get to that decision point.

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Minority Statement

• Senator John R Thune

  Ranking Member

  U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
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  Minority Statement

  Senator John R Thune

  Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this hearing on the issue of unmanned aviation. This topic touches on many areas within the Committee’s broad jurisdiction, and I look forward to hearing from our witnesses.

  Unmanned aviation is undoubtedly the next significant frontier in the aviation sector. The FAA currently accommodates limited flights by unmanned aircraft in the National Airspace System with case-by-case approvals, but widespread integration for safe and routine access will require substantial work by the FAA and other stakeholders. Given the potential benefits of unmanned aviation, the last FAA reauthorization bill in 2012 directed the agency to develop the safety standards necessary to ensure this relatively new technology can operate safely and seamlessly with existing manned aviation in our nation’s airspace. 

  I look forward to hearing a progress report from Administrator Huerta regarding the FAA bill’s mandates, and how the FAA intends to utilize the six recently announced test sites to establish safety standards and regulations for the safe flight of unmanned aircraft.

  With regard to the expected benefits of unmanned aviation, I look forward to hearing further analysis of how the market for unmanned aircraft is expected to develop under the regulatory framework directed by the FAA bill, including some specifics on how safe integration of unmanned aircraft could benefit agriculture producers, weather forecasting, and public safety.

  As safety regulators work through the challenges of the integration of unmanned aircraft, questions related to privacy have certainly received a lot of attention. I look forward to hearing from the witnesses regarding the current framework of privacy protections – including at the six test sites – and discussing what role, if any, the FAA should have in policing those concerns. 

  Of course, as we consider the privacy implications for unmanned aircraft, we will likely need to think beyond the now-common image of military-style drones – perhaps Amazon’s recent discussion about possibly using unmanned aircraft for package deliveries has already done that. 

  These aircraft are currently being flown, albeit in limited fashion, around the world, and the benefits certainly look promising. We must also remember that the aviation industry is a competitive worldwide industry, and the timely resolution of both the safety issues and privacy concerns will be necessary for the U.S. to utilize such technologies, while also maintaining its leadership position in this emerging aviation sector. 

  While this is certainly not the only hearing this Committee will hold on this topic, I look forward to today’s discussion of these challenging issues, and I thank the witnesses for their participation.

Testimony

• The Honorable Michael Huerta

  Administrator

  Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
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• Dr. Missy Cummings

  Director, Humans and Autonomy Laboratory

  Duke Institute for Brain Sciences, Duke University
  Download Testimony (70.15 KB)

• Mr. Henio Arcangeli

  Vice President, Corporate Planning & New Business Development

  Yamaha Motor Corporation, USA
  Download Testimony (117.79 KB)

• Mr. Chris Calabrese

  Legislative Counsel

  American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
  Download Testimony (487.22 KB)