Delaware General Assembly

CHAPTER 249

AIRCRAFT

AN ACT concerning the licensing of Airmen and Aircraft, to make Uniform the Law with reference thereto, and to prescribe penalties for the Violation thereof.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met:

Section 1. (DEFINITION OF TERMS) In this Act "Aircraft" means any contrivance now known or hereafter invented, used or designed for navigation of or flight in the air, except a parachute or other contrivance designed for such navigation but used primarily as safety equipment. "Operating aircraft" means performing the services of aircraft pilot.

Section 2. (AIRCRAFT; CONSTRUCTION, DESIGN, AND AIRWORTHINESS; FEDERAL LICENSE) The Public Safety requiring and the advantages of uniform regulation making it desirable in the interest of aeronautical progress that aircraft operating within this State should conform with respect to design, construction, and airworthiness to the standards prescribed by the United States Government with respect to navigation of aircraft subject to its jurisdiction, it shall be unlawful for any person to navigate an aircraft within the State unless it is licensed and registered by the Department of Commerce of the United States in the manner prescribed by the lawful rules and regulations of the United States Government then in force.

Section 3. (QUALIFICATIONS OF OPERATORS; FEDERAL LICENSE) The public safety requiring and the advantages of uniform regulations making it desirable in the interest of aeronautical progress that a person engaging within this State in navigating the aircraft described in Section 2 hereof in any form of navigation for which license to operate such aircraft would be required by the United States Government shall have the qualifications necessary for obtaining and holding the class of license required by the United States Government, it shall be unlawful for any person to engage in operating such aircraft within this State in any form of navigation unless he have such a license.

Section 4. (POSSESSION AND DISPLAY OF LICENSE) The certificate of the license herein required shall be kept in the personal possession of the licensee when he is operating aircraft within this State and must be presented for inspection upon the demand of any passenger, any peace officer of this State, or any official, manager, or person in charge of any airport or landing field in this State upon which he shall land.

Section 5. (PENALTIES) A person who violates any provision of this article shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and punishable by a fine of not more than One Hundred Dollars ($100.00), or by imprisonment for not more than ninety (90) days, or both : Provided, however, that acts or omissions made unlawful by this Article shall not be deemed to include any act or omission which violates the laws or lawful regulations of the United States ; but it shall not be necessary to allege or prove, as part of the case for the State, that the defendant is not amenable, on account of the alleged violation, to prosecution under laws of the United States. That he is amenable to such prosecution shall be matter of defense, unless it affirmatively appear from the evidence adduced by the State.

Approved April 2, 1929.