mr. misener raised. first, i would like to hear from mr. misener. mr. misener: what the faa has done in its nprm is fine. it really needs to go further. we need to be looking further beyond the road from the beyond visual line of sight. it is coming quickly. the fact that we are not even proposing rules or frameworks for rules is lamentable. we ought to move ahead now. at least be thinking about those rules as opposed to dismissing them as the nprm did. ms. ayotte: how do you address the concerns with which he pays the faa is going for to issue these rules in light of international competitors? ms. gilligan: we are focusing on the area authorizing operations beyond visual line of sight. there are several technology challenges to being able to do that, including the need to address the issue of what we call sense and avoid. we have pilots and manned aircraft, they had a regulatory responsibility to see and avoid other traffic. that is still to be addressed for unmanned vehicles. there is also assuring there is a standard of design that will assure a level

mr. misener raised. first, i would like to hear from mr. misener. mr. misener: what the faa has done in its nprm is fine. it really needs to go further. we need to be looking further beyond the road from the beyond visual line of sight. it is coming quickly. the fact that we are not even proposing rules or frameworks for rules is lamentable. we ought to move ahead now. at least be thinking about those rules as opposed to dismissing them as the nprm did. ms. ayotte: how do you address the concerns with which he pays the faa is going for to issue these rules in light of international competitors? ms. gilligan: we are focusing on the area authorizing operations beyond visual line of sight. there are several technology challenges to being able to do that including the need to address the issue of what we call sense and avoid. we have pilots and manned aircraft, they had a regulatory responsibility to see and avoid other traffic. that is still to be addressed for unmanned vehicles. there is also assuring there is a standard of design that will assure a level

mr. misener? >> thank you, senator. it's true we are on par when these rules get adopted 18 24 months from now for operations. where we truly lag behind, though s planning for the future. it's that highly -- high degree of automation beyond visual line of sight flying is coming. europeans are getting ready for it. we're not so much. >> i wonder ms. gilligan you know, a couple of things that we've done, congress in partnership with the faa is to -- within the faa create these centers of excellence on things that we don't quite yet understand whether it's composite composite, lightweight manufacturing materials and approval. on products like the 787. so to keep the faa up to date, they did a center of excellence. same center of excellence now with the faa in the lead on biofuels. how are we going to get a drop in jet fuel. do we need a center of excellence to help the faa on the technical side get answers in advance so as the market continues to develop those questions are being addressed, the research is being done, so t

mr. misener alluded to earlier are so relevant to us. being able to take your ipad and geo fence the field you want to fly in. swipe your finger to map out the pattern in which you want it to fly. it will do the mapping. it will come back, land, i can upload the data into my computer and have it right there. the idea this these can take off from my home farm fly a half mile or a mile to another farm and do that mapping and return is exciting. it's simply, if we're going to allow it to exist, i believe we can do it safely and we can do it effectively. again, the technology evolves ever faster. >> thank you. ms. gilligan, the faa has granted -- i think you mentioned in your testimony -- some 60 exemptions which is granted for some of these precision agriculture operations. as well as aerial photography. i understand there are currently nearly 600 petitions pending. does the faa have any plans to process and streamline this petition process similar to 48 -- 60 ones granted particularly as we hear about the important applications this has fo

mr. misener. i would like to welcome mr. jeff vander werff. mr. vander werff is representing the american farm bureau federation. thank you, mr. vander werff. >> thank you subcommittee chair, treachery and members of the subcommittee. my name is jeff vander werff and on the farmer from michigan. i farm with my family just outside sparta where i raise corn, wheat, soybeans and apples with my father, uncle and brother. i am the fourth generation of my family to work out home farm which was purchased by my great-grandfather, a dutch immigrant nearly 80 years ago. today my wife and i are proud to be raising the fifth generation on that same form. within our farm i am responsible for day-to-day activity and operation including precision agriculture and economics but as a farmer uses precision agriculture and understand the boards of the agronomic date i'm here today to discuss the potential benefits and pitfalls of unmanned aircraft systems for my farm in michigan. last summer i attended a precision agriculture demonstration. that included unmanned air

mr. paul misener, vice president of global public policy at amazon incorporated. >> thank you chairwoman and ranking member for your attention to this important topic. a future service that will deliver packages flying below 500 feet and weighing less than 55 pounds. take advantage of sense and avoid technology. to ensure safe automation including a distance of 10 miles or more. conducting outdoor r&d flight testing. testing abroad is required. nowhere outside of the united states have we been required to wait more than one or two months before testing. rapidly perfect designs without being required to continually obtain approvals it's going well and we are pleased with the progress that testing has enabled. no country in which we now have distribution facilities have adopted rules. in addition to our testing we are working with agencies to develop appropriate rules such rules must allow applications to take advantage of the core capability of technology to fly with minimal human involvement beyond visual line of sight. safety is the top priority of amazon. i am delighted to report that

mr. paul meisner. misener: thank you. thank you for the your attention to this important topic. amazon prime air is a future service that will deliver packages to customers in 30 minutes or less. flying below 500 feet and above 200, and weighing less than 55 pounds, they will take advantage of sensitive technology and automation. to ensure safe automation, we are including a visual of 10 miles per -- or more. we will conduct flight testing. nowhere outside of the united states have we been required to wait more than one or two months to begin testing. permission has been granted for operating a category, giving us rooms to perfect, without being required to continually obtain new approvals. our testing is going well, and we are pleased with our progress. no country in which we have distribution facilities has yet adopted its rules to allow for these deliveries. in addition to our testing, we are working with government agencies to develop appropriate rules. such rules must allow the applications to take advantage of technology. fly with minimal human involvement, and insight. sa

mr. misener i don't know if you have any input on that. mr. dillingham i wanted to ask you. are we always going to be behind europeans because they have already implemented their gps system and we're on radar and they have much more information about who and what is in the airspace? >> senator, i think we are -- i wouldn't say we are behind. we are when you talk about gps system and next gen we're trying to harmonize and make it operable. with regard to uas, because of those differences between the u.s. and some foreign countries in terms of illegal framework in terms of japan where they have been flying agriculture things for while one of the differences is the farmer owns the airspace above his land, so therefore it's sort of a different perspective there. i think moving forward, the u.s. working with the international aviation community and the uas industry well, in fact maintain our position as aero nautical leaders in the world. one of the things i said in my statement, if we were to implement the notice of proposed rule making now, we would be on par in many ways with