The Commercial Drone Alliance (CDA), an independent 501c6 non-profit organization led by key members of the commercial drone industry, announced that its Executive Director, Lisa Ellman, testified recently on its behalf before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. The purpose of the hearing titled Advance Air Mobility: The Future of Unmanned Aircraft Systems and Beyond was to examine the status and outlook for uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) and advanced air mobility (AAM) as well as serve as a legislative hearing for the National Drone and Advanced Air Mobility Act.
Lisa Ellman’s testimony focused on the vast societal benefits of UAS and how the United States can maintain its role as a global leader in advanced aviation, including through federal government investment in research and development. Specifically, she:
- highlighted the significant life-saving, economic, and societal benefits of commercial drones — from creating jobs and enhancing worker safety, to protecting the environment and revolutionizing inspections of critical infrastructure, to expanding equitable and efficient access to medicines, to generating tremendous economic value and facilitating commercial deliveries, to enhancing public safety and fighting wildfires.
- warned that the vast benefits of UAS cannot yet be truly realized here in the United States. Regulatory paralysis and undue regulatory burdens have prevented scalable UAS operations and limited the integration of UAS into the national airspace system (NAS).
- explained that the opportunity cost of inaction continues to grow as the gap between technology and policy in the United States continues to widen and the United States loses ground to other countries in this sector. Congress has the opportunity to close this gap, ensuring U.S. leadership and competitiveness in the next era of advanced aviation, and bring the benefits of commercial drones and AAM to the American public. This requires enabling U.S. companies to perform research and development here at home.
“The CDA appreciates the opportunity to appear before you today to provide our perspective in support of your work,” Lisa Ellman told lawmakers. “We look forward to continuing to collaborate with you and your staffs to ensure that America is able to maintain and enhance our global leadership in advanced aviation in years to come by implementing scalable UAS and AAM operations and integration into the NAS.”
A complete recording of the hearing can be found here.
