WASHINGTON — After almost a year of negotiations, both chambers of Congress agreed on an authorization bill for the Federal Aviation Administration this week, ending more than four years of short-term budget extensions for the agency.

In addition to giving the FAA a return to normalcy, the bill contained several provisions with particular significance to Oregon.

First, it instructs the FAA to select six sites for testing unmanned aerials vehicles, or UAVs. Officials in Central Oregon plan to apply to be one of the test sites in what they hope will be the first step to reviving the area’s aviation industry.

Second, the bill gives the National Park Service the authority to prevent tours that fly over Crater Lake National Park. Previously, Park Service personnel interested in preventing such flights would have had to create an air tour management plan, a time-consuming task.

Third, the bill creates 16 “slots” for round-trip flights between Reagan National Airport in Washington and airports more than 1,250 miles away. While the slots have not been specifically allocated to Western cities, Portland stands a very good chance of securing a direct flight to Washington’s most convenient airport.

“The door is now open for more flights between western cities like Portland and Washington, D.C., giving the Pacific Northwest another connection to the East Coast that could boost economic development in the region,” Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said in a prepared statement. “Oregon’s UAV manufacturing industry could see more accessible testing areas for the drones they create and the peace and tranquility of Crater Lake will remain without the droning of helicopter fly-over tours.”

Previous versions of the bill had cut the number of UAV test sites from six to four, but Wyden fought hard to keep the larger number.

Collins Hemingway, chairman of Economic Development for Central Oregon’s aviation recruitment committee, said Tuesday that Oregon was likely competing with 20 other states, some of which have more developed infrastructure and educational opportunities.

“I think we can put together a good proposal, and I think we will have a good shot at it,” he said. “We believe if the selection were made strictly on the airspace, we would definitely be in the top two or three in the country.”

The committee has been working with numerous local stakeholders and governments, including the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs and Jefferson County, to apply for the certificates of authorization needed to permit unmanned flights, he said. Now, they want to expand their efforts and involve entities statewide to broaden and strengthen the argument in favor of turning Oregon into a drone industry hub.

The economic opportunities include the development of software that collects in-flight data and in analyzing the data, he said. The committee has been working with local schools to encourage the development of curricula that will teach these skills.

“The true value of the vehicle is not in the airframe and the avionics. It’s in the data sensors,” Hemingway said. “Right now, everybody thinks that (the industry is) going to need to hire 10,000 or 20,000 people a year for four or five years just to analyze the data that is going to be collected by these vehicles.”

Central Oregon Community College is attempting to add a set of UAV courses to the aviation curriculum for next year, said John Miller, director of the school’s aviation department.

“We are hoping to add a data analyst degree track the following year, or once it’s approved by the state,” he said.

Civilian applications for drones could include search and rescue in mountains, tracking forest fires from above and testing the health of remote parts of a forest, he said.

“The jobs in that arena are just expanding exponentially,” he said.

To prepare students for these jobs, one idea is to combine courses that already exist at COCC. Miller envisions a curriculum that combines classes in aviation, forestry, geography, connecting networks, compiling databases and interpreting data.

Wyden spokesman Tom Towslee said the extra flights out of Reagan National Airport could also have an economic benefit for the region. He expects Alaska Airlines, which runs a direct flight from Seattle to Reagan, to try to get one of the slots for a direct Portland flight.

Historically, Reagan has allowed a very limited number of direct flights from airports more than 1,600 miles away, he said, meaning travelers had to connect through hubs in cities like Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit and Cincinnati.

“It’s time for (a direct flight from Portland) to happen, and I’m pretty sure that it will. There will be other cities that apply, but it’s not like they’re applying for one slot,” he said.