quirement, including any requirements under section 
44703 of title 49, United States Code, part 61 of 
title 14, Code of Federal Regulations, and any other 
rule or regulation pertaining to airman certification. 
‘‘(2) A micro UAS and the component parts 
and equipment of such micro UAS shall not be re-
quired to meet airworthiness certification standards 
or to obtain certificates of airworthiness.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 
in section 1(b) of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act 
of 2012 is amended by inserting after the item relating 
to section 336 the following: 
‘‘Sec. 337. Operation of small unmanned aircraft for commercial purposes. 
‘‘Sec. 338. Micro UAS operations.’’. 
SEC. 3. DEPUTY ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR FOR UN-
MANNED AIRCRAFT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle B of title III of the FAA 
Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 (Public Law 112– 
95), as amended by section 2(a), is further amended by 
adding at the end the following: 
‘‘SEC. 339. DEPUTY ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR FOR UN-
MANNED AIRCRAFT. 
‘‘(a) APPOINTMENT.—The Administrator of the Fed-
eral Aviation Administration (referred to in this section 
as the ‘Administrator’) shall appoint a Deputy Associate 
Administrator for Unmanned Aircraft (referred to in this 
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section as the ‘Deputy Associate Administrator’), who 
shall report to the Administrator and to the Secretary of 
Transportation. 
‘‘(b) PRINCIPAL DUTIES.—The Deputy Associate Ad-
ministrator shall create an achievable comprehensive re-
search and development plan for the safe integration of 
unmanned aircraft into the National Airspace System 
that— 
‘‘(1) takes into account work being done at 
other Federal agencies, in conjunction with their in-
dustry collaborators; 
‘‘(2) is based on an initial audit of current un-
manned aircraft activity across the Federal Govern-
ment in order to identify gaps and overlaps; and 
‘‘(3) allows for programmatic exemptions based 
on previous analysis. 
‘‘(c) OTHER ISSUES.—The Deputy Associate Admin-
istrator, in consultation with the Administrator, shall de-
velop strategies for resolving— 
‘‘(1) unmanned aircraft spectrum issues; 
‘‘(2) barriers to unmanned aircraft operating 
beyond line of sight; 
‘‘(3) barriers to allowing payload carriage and 
the feasibility of developing a classification of small 
UAS air carriers; and 
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‘‘(4) barriers to utilizing automated unmanned 
aircraft systems. 
‘‘(d) EXEMPTIONS.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days 
after the date of the enactment of the Commercial 
UAS Modernization Act, the Deputy Associate Ad-
ministrator, in consultation with the Administrator, 
shall expedite and expand exemptions from the in-
terim operating restrictions otherwise applicable to 
unmanned aircraft under section 337. 
‘‘(2) EXEMPTIONS.—The exemptions authorized 
under paragraph (1) may include— 
‘‘(A) beyond line of sight operations; 
‘‘(B) programmatic exemptions based on 
previous analysis; 
‘‘(C) extended visual line of sight and mar-
ginal visual flight rules weather conditions; and 
‘‘(D) heavier unmanned vehicles.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 
in section 1(b) of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act 
of 2012 is amended by inserting after the item relating 
to section 338, as added by section 2(b), the following: 
‘‘Sec. 339. Deputy Associate Administrator for Unmanned Aircraft.’’. 
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SEC. 4. JOINT AIRCRAFT SYSTEM RESEARCH AND DEVEL-
OPMENT DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS 
PROGRAM. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Administrator of the 
Federal Aviation Administration shall establish a joint air-
craft system research and development data collection and 
analysis program at the William J. Hughes Technical Cen-
ter (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Center’’). 
(b) RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PRIORITIES.— 
The Director of the Center shall set priorities for data 
collection, analysis, and research under the program estab-
lished under subsection (a), including identifying safety 
standards for detect and avoid, command and control, au-
tonomous aircraft systems, and air traffic management for 
beyond visual line of sight operations for such aircraft. 
(c) USE OF TEST SITES.—The program established 
under subsection (a) shall utilize the 6 unmanned aircraft 
system test sites of the Federal Aviation Administration 
to— 
(1) conduct research; 
(2) collect data; 
(3) develop quarterly milestones to expedite 
commercial unmanned aircraft system operations; 
and 
(4) work with other Federal agencies, the Cen-
ter of Excellence for Unmanned Aircraft Systems, 
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federally funded research and development centers, 
industry, academia, and others, as appropriate, to 
implement commercial unmanned aircraft system op-
erations. 
(d) AIR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT PILOT PROGRAM.— 
(1) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Administrator of 
the Federal Aviation Administration, acting through 
the Center, and the Administrator of the National 
Aeronautics and Space Administration, shall imple-
ment an air traffic management pilot program to re-
search and test a new regulatory structure for com-
mercial and other operations of small unmanned air-
craft in controlled and uncontrolled airspace below 
1,200 feet above ground level. 
(2) MANAGEMENT TESTING.—The Center shall 
partner with a neutral third party to test the man-
agement of small unmanned aircraft in the airspace 
described in paragraph (1). 
(e) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, and every 180 days there-
after, the Director of the Center shall submit a report that 
summarizes the actions taken under subsections (b), (c), 
and (d) to— 
(1) the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
Transportation of the Senate; 
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(2) the Committee on Appropriations of the 
Senate; 
(3) the Committee on Transportation and In-
frastructure of the House of Representatives; and 
(4) the Committee on Appropriations of the 
House of Representatives. 
Æ 
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