FAA Exemptions

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Has anyone tried to navigate the FAA system to get a COA waiver/exemption? I've looked at the site twice and the lack of coherence of the path to getting a COA waiver is amazingly convoluted and if you follow links (to get your "aircraft" registered), you find you can't actually get the form online but have to request on from an office in Oklahoma city! It's nearly 2015 and we have to request a paper form by snail mail?

Then once you register your drone, you then have to complete this PDF (https://www.faa.gov/uas/legislative_pro ... equest.pdf)
As you scan through the PDF it is so completely inapplicable to using a 2lb quadcopter, it is almost laughable. TURN RATE = ? I dunno, 360' in 1 sec? Geez.

If the FAA really wants to regulate commercial use of small UAV's, they need to spend 20 minutes to create an online application or at least a downloadable for to gather the data they really need. Seems like you would want to know the model of the UAV, intended use, location of flights for the project and other relevant info, not the Class of Airspace, whether there UHF or VHF communication (where is Wifi?), and lost link procedures (haven't found a little pilot in my drone that could communicate with ATC yet).

I'm happy to apply for a permit to fly commercially if that is going to be the law of the land, but the FAA needs to be realistic about what they are asking for. The whole idea of registering a 2 lbs UAV is amazingly silly, especially if I can fly it for hobby purposes without it. Guess I'll be doing a lot of hobby video...if it gets donated to a film for no charge, what's the ruling there?
 
DrTelemark said:
Has anyone tried to navigate the FAA system to get a COA waiver/exemption? I've looked at the site twice and the lack of coherence of the path to getting a COA waiver is amazingly convoluted and if you follow links (to get your "aircraft" registered), you find you can't actually get the form online but have to request on from an office in Oklahoma city! It's nearly 2015 and we have to request a paper form by snail mail?

Then once you register your drone, you then have to complete this PDF (https://www.faa.gov/uas/legislative_pro ... equest.pdf)
As you scan through the PDF it is so completely inapplicable to using a 2lb quadcopter, it is almost laughable. TURN RATE = ? I dunno, 360' in 1 sec? Geez.

If the FAA really wants to regulate commercial use of small UAV's, they need to spend 20 minutes to create an online application or at least a downloadable for to gather the data they really need. Seems like you would want to know the model of the UAV, intended use, location of flights for the project and other relevant info, not the Class of Airspace, whether there UHF or VHF communication (where is Wifi?), and lost link procedures (haven't found a little pilot in my drone that could communicate with ATC yet).

I'm happy to apply for a permit to fly commercially if that is going to be the law of the land, but the FAA needs to be realistic about what they are asking for. The whole idea of registering a 2 lbs UAV is amazingly silly, especially if I can fly it for hobby purposes without it. Guess I'll be doing a lot of hobby video...if it gets donated to a film for no charge, what's the ruling there?
And people wonder why so many small drone commercial operators just ignore the FAA.
 
DrTelemark said:
Has anyone tried to navigate the FAA system to get a COA waiver/exemption?
Out of a population of 300 million, the FAA has only granted an exemption to 11 companies - that speaks volumes.
The FAA aren't interested in encouraging drone operations and to them everything is an aeroplane. That's the only way they can understand things, to make them an aeroplane because they understand nothing else and won't venture outside their comfort zone.

DrTelemark said:
Guess I'll be doing a lot of hobby video...if it gets donated to a film for no charge, what's the ruling there?
If the FAA considered the film was used for a commercial purpose (and their definition is broad), they care not whether you did it for free. The FAA is so crazy and impossible to work with on commercial drone use it's no wonder people fly beneath the radar and just get on with carrying out their business safely and sensibly.
 
DrTelemark, here's what the FAA is requesting be done:
http://www.faa.gov/uas/legislative_prog ... a_petition

As I'm working through this process myself, I'm finding they neglected to include some of the steps (or I overlooked them). For example, in order to register your aircraft, you also need to complete AC Form 8050-88 and get a bill of sale (AC Form 8050-2) signed in ink from everyone that sold your Phantom. That means you'll need two complete bill of sale documents completed if your Phantom was sold by DJI to a reseller -- and then to you.

The COA is the easy part though. The questions on it are a bit odd because it was not designed to be used with UAV's. But, it applies to all aircraft, so it must be completed.
 
I am in the process to acquire the necessary things to do this. I called & talked to a person in Oklahoma to get the paperwork to register my quad. The person was very friendly. When I asked a question, she stated that, they (I suppose the FAA) have no idea what need to be done for this & they are being told something different depending on who they talk to.
My father is a private pilot with instrument & several other ratings & when he looked over what needs to be done, he stated, "it is doable but the FAA is trying to make in as unfriendly as they can to keep people from trying to obtain the COA".

DrTeklemark & Steve, looking at the COA, they need to come up with something that makes sense for the UAV's. I think if the FAA really wanted people to apply & abide by the regulations, they would form a committee with some UAV pilots to help set this up.
 
Larry L said:
I called & talked to a person in Oklahoma to get the paperwork to register my quad. The person was very friendly. When I asked a question, she stated that, they (I suppose the FAA) have no idea what need to be done for this & they are being told something different depending on who they talk to.
Same here. I've talked to a few people from the FAA. Each says it's all new to them and really is not able to give a clear answer.
 
msinger said:
Larry L said:
I called & talked to a person in Oklahoma to get the paperwork to register my quad. The person was very friendly. When I asked a question, she stated that, they (I suppose the FAA) have no idea what need to be done for this & they are being told something different depending on who they talk to.
Same here. I've talked to a few people from the FAA. Each says it's all new to them and really is not able to give a clear answer.
If you hear anything, please pass along :D
 
Hear anything about what?

The exemption process is tough to navigate, but it's doable as-is.
 
msinger said:
The exemption process is tough to navigate, but it's doable as-is.
The FAA has only granted 11 exemptions - total.
And these are highly restrictive.
You are more likely to win $5 million in a lottery than get an FAA exemption.
 
msinger said:
Hear anything about what?

The exemption process is tough to navigate, but it's doable as-is.
Clear Answer :lol: I don't think you ever will as it is the government :D
 
Meta4 said:
You are more likely to win $5 million in a lottery than get an FAA exemption.
Only time will tell. I think a lot of people have this attitude and never attempt the process.
 
A tiny, backward country like Australia with only 7.5% of the USA's population has granted commercial status to 188 operators and is about to allow commercial operation of sub 2kg drones without a licence, The US has granted only 11 highly restrictive exemptions.
That's so close to a total ban that the 11 exemptions may as well be zero.
I can't see any reason to be optimistic about the FAA granting an exemption to any Joe Citizen anytime in the near future.
They are committed to keeping commercial use grounded.
 
Meta4 said:
They are committed to keeping commercial use grounded.
I don't think this is going to be politically feasible. No one outside the FAA knows what's in the NPRM that's due out any day. (That's FAA-speak for "sometime next year").
The FAA's own documents say they expect 7500 commercial drone licenses in 2018. There's only two ways that number could be true. first, if the licensing requirements are so onerous that few will apply, or second, if the NPRM will include a method for small UAVs to operate in something like the AMA guidelines for commercial purposes. Knowing the FAA's love of certification, there may well be a pilot's certificate requirement, but hopefully not a fully-trained and certified private pilot.

Or curtain number three - the FAA has no clue.

I'll take curtain number two.
 
SteveMann said:
there may well be a pilot's certificate requirement, but hopefully not a fully-trained and certified private pilot
49 USC§ 44711 states you must have the appropriate airman certificate to fly commercially. It seems that law should not apply though since the FAA has no airman certificate for UAVs. According to the FAA's response in a recent petition, they believe the private pilot license is the applicable airman certificate.

Regarding the petitioner’s requested relief from 14 CFR 61.113(a) and (b) Private pilot privileges and limitations, Clayco requested regulatory relief to operate its UAS without an FAA - certificated pilot. Although Section 333 provides limited statutory flexibility relative to 49 USC§ 44704 for the purposes of airworthiness certification, it does not provide flexibility relative to other sections of 49 USC. The FAA does not possess the authority to exempt from the statutory requirement to hold an airman certificate, as prescribed in 49 USC§ 44711.
 
If you started the exemption process in the last century (the same place where the FAA's thinking comes from), you may have a chance of completing your exemption before the new rules are finally put into action sometime in 2017.

I don't think the FAA intended to ground all commercial use but their actions have pretty much made that the case. The only glimmer of hope is that a situation so untenable as this may garner enough attention to fix it.
 

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