After a two week spring break, Congress reconvenes this week and will take up the work of completing the FAA Re-Authorization Act. Both the Senate Bill (S. 223) and the House Bill (H.R. 658) have passed their respective houses and have been sent to Conference Committee for reconciliation. The Senate has officially called for a conference on the legislation and has named its conferees. The House is expected to respond to the request this week. The AMA remains hopeful that the model aviation exemption provided in the Senate version of the bill will be accepted and moved into the final bill.
The AMA Standards Workgroup will hold a special face-to-face meeting with representatives from FAA’s Unmanned Aircraft Program Office next week during the Joe Nall Fly-In in Woodruff SC. The workgroup will meet for two days and will continue its work on developing a set of model aviation standards to be used as an alternative means of complying with the proposed sUAS regulation. The workgroup will attend AMA membership meeting to be held Thursday evening, May 12, at the Triple Tree Aerodrome, and as part of the meeting, the FAA representatives will provide an update on the sUAS rulemaking process and the model aviation standards development. If you plan to attend Joe Nall or if you’re in the area, please come and join us.
-Rich Hanson, AMA Government Relations and Regulatory Affairs Representative