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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. Purs uant to Section 333 of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 (the Reform Act), and 14 C.F.R. Part 11, T ribrach Solutions, LLC a Texas based limited liability com pany operating a Small Unmanned Aircraft System (sU AS) equipped to conduct aerial photography and survey f or various industries, hereby applies for an exempt ion from the Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs) listed belo w to allow operation of our sUAS commercially in ai rspace regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration (F AA) so long as such operations are conducted with a nd under the conditions outlined herein or as may be establi shed by the FAA as required by Section 333.

The requested exemption would permit Tribrach Solut ions, LLC to pursue its commercial interests in pro viding services to consumers interested aerial data captur e using a small advanced sUAS in the following area s:

• Agricultural Surveying • Land Surveying • Aerial Photography (not including closed-set film ing) • Real Estate Photography • Product Demonstrations • Infrastructure Survey

Tribrach Solutions states that all sUAS Sights that will occur over private or controlled access prope rty will do so with the property owner's prior consent and knowled ge and that only people who have consented or other wise 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. 151Page 2 of 6

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 fertilize rs and chemicals in the soil. They have proven to save liv es in dangerous situations such as flare-stack insp ections 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 cam era and a DJI Inspire 1 multi-rotor equipped with a threeaxis gimbaled camera. These sUAS all weigh less tha n 25 lbs., have a built- in capability to limit the height it flies above the ground, the radius of the distance it fli es from the operator and includes a no fly zone fea ture. The remotes have an operating frequency of 2.00 GHz-2.4 83 GHz. Also, Each system also has the failsafe fun ction of the autopilot system, which means when the communic ation between the Main Controller and the transmitt er is lost, the system will automatically trigger a Re turn to Home mode and will land safely. The above specifications meet standards listed below, some de rived in accordance with the Model Aircraft Operati ng Standards:

• The petitioner will only operate its sUAS in line of sight of a Pilot in Control (PIC) and/or observ er and will operate at sites that are a 'sufficient distan ce' from populated areas within the sterile area de scribed in the operator’s manual. Such operations will ins ure that the sUAS will "not create a hazard to user s of the national airspace system or the public."

• Under new FAA policy , “the FAA will grant a Certificate of Waiver or Au thorization (COA) for flights at or below 200 feet to any UAS operator with a Sectio n 333 exemption for aircraft that weigh less than 55 pounds, operate during daytime Visual Flight Rul es (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 o perational 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 instrume nt flight procedure or an operational tower, or • 2 NM from a heliport with a published instrument flight procedure”

• Flights requiring an additional COA for operation s outside the above parameters will be coordinated with the FAA.

• Maximum flight time for each operational flight w ill be 60 minutes.

• Flights will be terminated at 25% battery power r eserve should that occur prior to the 60 minute lim it.

• Minimum crew for each operation will consist of t he sUAS PIC and the Visual Observer.Page 3 of 6

• The sUAS operated by the petitioner weighs less t han 55 pounds, including the payload (i.e. camera, lens, and gimbal).

• The sUAS will operate at speeds of no more than 3 5 knots.

• Given the small size of the sUAS and the restrict ed sterile environment within which they will opera te, our sUAS operations adhere to the Reform Act's safe ty requirements.

Privacy will be paramount to Tribrach Solutions. W e will safeguard all data by storing data on hard d rives, and not on cloud-based software platforms unless there is a signed agreement in place with all personnel a nd private property owners in the photos or video.

Tribrach Solutions will be utilizing the same DJI p roven 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 75035Page 4 of 6 

## EXEMPTION REQUESTS AND EQUIVALENT LEVEL OF SAFETY

Tribrach Solutions, LLC Systems requests an exempti on from the following regulations as well as any ad ditional regulations that may technically apply to the opera tion of the Small Unmanned Aircraft System (sUAS) S ystem:



## 14 CFR Part 21, Airworthiness Certificates

This part establishes the procedures for the issuan ce of an airworthiness certificate. While the FAA c ontinues to work to develop airworthiness standards for Unmanne d Aerial Systems, we request an FAA Modernization a nd 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 limitati ons: Pilot in Command and 61.133

Commercial pilot privileges and limitations. The re gulation provides that no person that holds a Priva te 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 conne ction with any business or employment if: (1) The f light 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 exemp ts the PIC from holding a Private Pilot Certificate issued by the FAA since the aircraft cannot carry passenge rs or property, we feel we meet the intent of 61. 1 13 Subparagraph (b) even though the intent of this app lication 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 fo rm contemplated by the FARs, this Regulation is ina pplicable.


## 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 manu al is in the aircraft. We assume that the intent of this req uirement is to ensure that flight manual informatio n is available to the aircrew while operating the aircra ft. We request an exemption to this requirement sin ce the aircraft is not only too small to carry documentati on, the documentation would not be available to the crew during flight operations. To obtain an equivalent l evel of safety and meet the intent of 91.9, we prop ose that a current, approved sUAS Flight Manual must be availa ble to the crew at the ground station anytime the a ircraft is in, or preparing for, flight.


## 14 CFR 91.109 Flight Instruction, Simulated instrum ent flight and certain flight tests

The regulation states that "No person may operate a civil aircraft that is being used for flight instr uction unless that aircraft has fully functioning dual controls." The sUAS System ground-based control station consi sts of a
small hand-held radio transmitter and while it does not offer a second set of "controls", both the stu dent and instructor can, and will, operate the single set of controls simultaneously. With both student and ins tructorPage 5 of 6

having "hands-on" the controls during flight, we fe el 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 5 00 feet to any person, vessel, vehicle, or structure. Since th e typical mission of the sUAS would be photography or survey of persons, vessels, vehicles or structures it woul d be necessary to operate closer than 200 feet to t he 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 b e operated at a low altitude allowing, if a power u nit fails, an emergency landing without undue hazard to persons o r property on the surface. Therefore we maintain th at due to the small size of the UAS, the hazard to per sons, vehicles and structures is minimal compared t o manned aircraft, which should be considered in granting th e exemption.



## 14 CFR 91.121 Altimeter settings.

The regulation requires that aircraft shall maintai n cruising altitudes by reference to an altimeter s etting
available within 100 NM of the aircraft. The sUAS w ill always fly below 200 feet AGL and will not need to maintain cruising altitudes in order to prevent con flict with other aircraft. An Above Ground Level al timeter measurement above the takeoff point is transmitted via radio from the sUAS on-board computer to the di splay screen held by the PIC, providing a constantly upda ted AGL readout.



## 14 CFR 91.151 Fuel requirements for flight in VFR c onditions.

The regulation provides that no person may begin a flight in an airplane under day-VFR conditions unle ss there is enough fuel to fly to the first point of intended l anding and to fly after that for at least 30 minute s. 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 o n which sUAS) minutes with a 20% reserve. Since the aircraf t will never fly more than 1/3 NM from the point of intended landing, a full battery charge at launch will ensur e that we meet the reserve energy requirement of th is paragraph. We request an exemption to the word "fue l" and ask for an equivalent interpretation with th e word "energy". We also request exemption from the 30 min reserve and ask that our reserve will be to fly th e 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: Certificatio ns required.

The regulation provides that an airworthiness certi ficate, with the registration number assigned to th e aircraft and a registration certificate must be aboard the a ircraft. Additionally, subparagraph (b) provides th at the airworthiness certificate be "displayed at the cabi n or cockpit entrance so that it is legible to pass engers 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 o f safety and meet the intent of 91.203, we propose thatPage 6 of 6

documents deemed appropriate for this aircraft by t he FAA will be collocated with the crew at the grou nd control station and available for inspection upon r equest.



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

The regulation provides that the operator is primar ily 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 air craft be "approved for return to service by a person authori zed under 43.7" after maintenance and inspection. I t is our intention that the PIC perform maintenance and insp ection of the aircraft and "be authorized to approv e the
aircraft for return to service." The PIC will ensur e that the aircraft is in an airworthy condition pr ior to every flight and in addition, conduct detailed inspection s after every two hours of flight. Maintenance perf ormed by the PIC is limited to repairing small cracks, repla cing a propeller, checking electrical connections a nd updating software and firmware for the on-board computer. Al l other maintenance will be performed by the manufacturer or their designated repair facility. T he PIC will document work performed in accordance w ith 91.417. We feel that due to the size, construction, and simplicity of the aircraft, the PIC can ensure an equivalent level of safety.