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July 21, 2015 

U.S. Department of Transportation Docket Management System 

1200 New Jersey Ave. SE 

Washington, DC 20590 

Re: Exemption Request Section 333 of the FAA Reform Act

Dear Sir/Madam, 

This petition is being submitted on our own behalf without legal counsel or consulting services. Pursuant to 

Section 333 of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 (the Reform Act), and 14 C.F.R. Part 11, Tribrach 

Solutions, LLC a Texas based limited liability company operating a Small Unmanned Aircraft System (sUAS) 

equipped to conduct aerial photography and survey for various industries, hereby applies for an exemption from 

the Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs) listed below to allow operation of our sUAS commercially in airspace 

regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) so long as such operations are conducted with and under 

the conditions outlined herein or as may be established by the FAA as required by Section 333. 

The requested exemption would permit Tribrach Solutions, LLC to pursue its commercial interests in providing 

services to consumers interested aerial data capture using a small advanced sUAS in the following areas: 

• Agricultural Surveying 

• Land Surveying 

• Aerial Photography (not including closed-set filming) 

• Real Estate Photography 

• Product Demonstrations 

• Infrastructure Survey 

Tribrach Solutions states that all sUAS Sights that will occur over private or controlled access property will do so 

with the property owner's prior consent and knowledge and that only people who have consented or otherwise 

have agreed to be in the area where photography and videography will take place will be captured. 

Regulations from which the exemption is requested: 

14 C.F.R. Part 21 

14 C.F.R. 45.27 

14 C.F.R. 61. 113(a) and (b) 

14 C.F.R. 91.7 (a) 

14 C.F.R. 91.9 (b) (2) 

14 C.F.R. 91.105 

14 C.F.R. 91. 109 

14 C.F.R .91. 119 

14 C.F.R. 91. 121 

14 C.F.R. 91. 151 
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14 C.F.R. 91.203 (a) & (b) 

14 C.F.R. 91.205 (b) 

14 C.F.R. 91.215 

14 C.F.R. (91.401 - 91.417) 

Unmanned Aircraft System 

sUAS are a feasible method to obtain information of agricultural cropland to determine optimum inputs that 

result in cost savings to farmers, yield security, and reduce environmental impact of excess fertilizers and 

chemicals in the soil. They have proven to save lives in dangerous situations such as flare-stack inspections and 

search-and-rescue missions. 

We are petitioning for exemption to enable Tribrach Solutions to operate a DJI Phantom 3 Professional Vision 

multi-rotor equipped with a three-axis gimbaled camera and a DJI Inspire 1 multi-rotor equipped with a threeaxis gimbaled camera. These sUAS all weigh less than 25 lbs., have a built- in capability to limit the height it flies 

above the ground, the radius of the distance it flies from the operator and includes a no fly zone feature. The 

remotes have an operating frequency of 2.00 GHz-2.483 GHz. Also, Each system also has the failsafe function of 

the autopilot system, which means when the communication between the Main Controller and the transmitter 

is lost, the system will automatically trigger a Return to Home mode and will land safely. The above 

specifications meet standards listed below, some derived in accordance with the Model Aircraft Operating 

Standards: 

• The petitioner will only operate its sUAS in line of sight of a Pilot in Control (PIC) and/or observer and 

will operate at sites that are a 'sufficient distance' from populated areas within the sterile area described 

in the operator’s manual. Such operations will insure that the sUAS will "not create a hazard to users of 

the national airspace system or the public." 

• Under new FAA policy, “the FAA will grant a Certificate of Waiver or Authorization (COA) for flights at 

or below 200 feet to any UAS operator with a Section 333 exemption for aircraft that weigh less than 

55 pounds, operate during daytime Visual Flight Rules (VFR) conditions, operate within visual line of 

sight (VLOS) of the PIC, and stay certain distances away from airports or heliports: 

• 5 nautical miles (NM) from an airport having an operational control tower, or 

• 3 NM from an airport with a published instrument flight procedure, but not an operational tower, or 

• 2 NM from an airport without a published instrument flight procedure or an operational tower, or 

• 2 NM from a heliport with a published instrument flight procedure” 

• Flights requiring an additional COA for operations outside the above parameters will be coordinated 

with the FAA. 

• Maximum flight time for each operational flight will be 60 minutes. 

• Flights will be terminated at 25% battery power reserve should that occur prior to the 60 minute limit. 

• Minimum crew for each operation will consist of the sUAS PIC and the Visual Observer. 
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• The sUAS operated by the petitioner weighs less than 55 pounds, including the payload (i.e. camera, 

lens, and gimbal). 

• The sUAS will operate at speeds of no more than 35 knots. 

• Given the small size of the sUAS and the restricted sterile environment within which they will operate, 

our sUAS operations adhere to the Reform Act's safety requirements. 

Privacy will be paramount to Tribrach Solutions. We will safeguard all data by storing data on hard drives, and 

not on cloud-based software platforms unless there is a signed agreement in place with all personnel and 

private property owners in the photos or video. 

Tribrach Solutions will be utilizing the same DJI proven technologies the FAA has already scrutinized and 

approved for other Section 333 exemptions. 

Sincerely, 

Cody Taylor 

Managing Principle 

Tribrach Solutions, LLC 

PO Box 5267 

Frisco, TX 75035 

 
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EXEMPTION REQUESTS AND EQUIVALENT LEVEL OF SAFETY 

Tribrach Solutions, LLC Systems requests an exemption from the following regulations as well as any additional 

regulations that may technically apply to the operation of the Small Unmanned Aircraft System (sUAS) System: 

14 CFR Part 21, Airworthiness Certificates 

This part establishes the procedures for the issuance of an airworthiness certificate. While the FAA continues to 

work to develop airworthiness standards for Unmanned Aerial Systems, we request an FAA Modernization and 

Reform Act, Section 333 Exemption be issued for the DJI Phantom 3 Professional Vision and DJI Inspire 1 under 

the following provisions: 

14 CFR 61.113 Private pilot privileges and limitations: Pilot in Command and 61.133 

Commercial pilot privileges and limitations. The regulation provides that no person that holds a Private Pilot 

certificate may act as Pilot in Command (PIC) of an aircraft for compensation or hire. Subparagraph (b) allows a 

private pilot to act as PIC of an aircraft in connection with any business or employment if: (1) The flight is only 

incidental to that business or employment; and (2) The aircraft does not carry passengers or property for 

compensation or hire. Our proposed operations exempts the PIC from holding a Private Pilot Certificate issued 

by the FAA since the aircraft cannot carry passengers or property, we feel we meet the intent of 61. 113 

Subparagraph (b) even though the intent of this application is to conduct a business. 

14 CFR 91.7 Prohibits the Operation of an aircraft without an airworthiness certificate. 

As no such certificate will be applicable in the form contemplated by the FARs, this Regulation is inapplicable. 

14 CFR 91.9 Civil aircraft flight manual, marking, and placard requirements.

This regulation provides that no person may operate an aircraft unless a current, approved flight manual is in 

the aircraft. We assume that the intent of this requirement is to ensure that flight manual information is 

available to the aircrew while operating the aircraft. We request an exemption to this requirement since the 

aircraft is not only too small to carry documentation, the documentation would not be available to the crew 

during flight operations. To obtain an equivalent level of safety and meet the intent of 91.9, we propose that a 

current, approved sUAS Flight Manual must be available to the crew at the ground station anytime the aircraft is 

in, or preparing for, flight. 

14 CFR 91.109 Flight Instruction, Simulated instrument flight and certain flight tests 

The regulation states that "No person may operate a civil aircraft that is being used for flight instruction unless 

that aircraft has fully functioning dual controls." The sUAS System ground-based control station consists of a 

small hand-held radio transmitter and while it does not offer a second set of "controls", both the student and 

instructor can, and will, operate the single set of controls simultaneously. With both student and instructor 
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having "hands-on" the controls during flight, we feel that this technique meets the intent 91.109 and provides 

an equivalent level of safety. 

14 CFR 91.119 Minimum safe altitudes: General. 

The regulation states that over sparsely populated areas the aircraft cannot be operated closer than 500 feet to 

any person, vessel, vehicle, or structure. Since the typical mission of the sUAS would be photography or survey 

of persons, vessels, vehicles or structures it would be necessary to operate closer than 200 feet to the items 

listed. Operations will only be flown over property or persons where permission has been obtained and careful 

pre-planned has been performed. The aircraft will be operated at a low altitude allowing, if a power unit fails, an 

emergency landing without undue hazard to persons or property on the surface. Therefore we maintain that 

due to the small size of the UAS, the hazard to persons, vehicles and structures is minimal compared to manned 

aircraft, which should be considered in granting the exemption. 

14 CFR 91.121 Altimeter settings. 

The regulation requires that aircraft shall maintain cruising altitudes by reference to an altimeter setting 

available within 100 NM of the aircraft. The sUAS will always fly below 200 feet AGL and will not need to 

maintain cruising altitudes in order to prevent conflict with other aircraft. An Above Ground Level altimeter 

measurement above the takeoff point is transmitted via radio from the sUAS on-board computer to the display 

screen held by the PIC, providing a constantly updated AGL readout. 

14 CFR 91.151 Fuel requirements for flight in VFR conditions. 

The regulation provides that no person may begin a flight in an airplane under day-VFR conditions unless there is 

enough fuel to fly to the first point of intended landing and to fly after that for at least 30 minutes. We feel the 

intention of this paragraph is to provide an energy reserve as a safety buffer for delays to landing. The sUAS are 

battery operated and the maximum duration of flight from a single battery charge is 12-45 (depending on which 

sUAS) minutes with a 20% reserve. Since the aircraft will never fly more than 1/3 NM from the point of intended 

landing, a full battery charge at launch will ensure that we meet the reserve energy requirement of this 

paragraph. We request an exemption to the word "fuel" and ask for an equivalent interpretation with the word 

"energy". We also request exemption from the 30 min reserve and ask that our reserve will be to fly the mission 

to the point of intended landing and have at least a 20% battery reserve after that. 

 

14 CFR 91.203(a) & (b) Civil aircraft: Certifications required. 

The regulation provides that an airworthiness certificate, with the registration number assigned to the aircraft 

and a registration certificate must be aboard the aircraft. Additionally, subparagraph (b) provides that the 

airworthiness certificate be "displayed at the cabin or cockpit entrance so that it is legible to passengers or 

crew." The sUAS is too small to carry documentation, does not have an entrance, and is not capable of carrying 

passengers or crew. To obtain an equivalent level of safety and meet the intent of 91.203, we propose that 
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documents deemed appropriate for this aircraft by the FAA will be collocated with the crew at the ground 

control station and available for inspection upon request. 

14 CFR Subpart E (91.401- 91.417) - Maintenance, Preventive Maintenance, Alterations

The regulation provides that the operator is primarily responsible for maintaining the aircraft in an airworthy 

condition, including compliance with part 39 and 43. Paragraphs 91.407 and 91.409 require that the aircraft be 

"approved for return to service by a person authorized under 43.7" after maintenance and inspection. It is our 

intention that the PIC perform maintenance and inspection of the aircraft and "be authorized to approve the 

aircraft for return to service." The PIC will ensure that the aircraft is in an airworthy condition prior to every 

flight and in addition, conduct detailed inspections after every two hours of flight. Maintenance performed by 

the PIC is limited to repairing small cracks, replacing a propeller, checking electrical connections and updating 

software and firmware for the on-board computer. All other maintenance will be performed by the 

manufacturer or their designated repair facility. The PIC will document work performed in accordance with 

91.417. We feel that due to the size, construction, and simplicity of the aircraft, the PIC can ensure an equivalent 

level of safety.