May 26, 2015

U.S. Department of Transportation, Docket Operations

West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE

Washington, DC 20590 

Dear Sir or Madam:

Pursuant to Section 333 of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 (the Reform

Act), I, Jeremiah Jewell, owner of J3 Photography, hereby apply for an exemption from 

Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs) detailed below to allow for commercial operations 

of a DJI Phantom 3 Professional four rotor UAS with an attached DJI Gimbal Mount 

holding a 4K UHD Camera for the purpose of aerial photography and video for a variety 

of industries.

As the Reform Act allows the FAA to “establish requirements for the safe operation of

such aircraft systems in the national airspace system”, I, Jeremiah Jewell’s use of the 

Phantom 3 Professional will provide the following benefits and enhance or provide an 

equivalent level of safety.

1. The Phantom 3 has a maximum takeoff weight of less than 3 pounds and thus offers

a lightweight, small and compact video platform compared to manned aircraft.

2. The Phantom 3 offers significant safety, noise, emission, security and environmental

benefits not available to larger manned aircraft.

3. The Phantom 3 has numerous safety features such as Failsafe mode, automatic

Return home feature should signal between PIC and UAS be interrupted, GPS based 

altitude and distance locks, Flight Limits function and low battery warnings. We feel that 

these features addressed in more detail below and in the Phantom 3 User Manual 

provide an equivalent level of safety.

4. Operations utilizing the Phantom 3 Professional will provide a benefit to the general 

public and serve the public interest by providing the service of aerial photographic 

images and video to numerous businesses and individuals for considerably less than 

the previously only available option of utilizing manned aircraft at an equivalent level of 

safety.

The Aircraft, Operations and an Equivalent Level of Safety

1. The safe operation of the UAS will be the first priority before, during and after every

operation.

2. The UAS pilot will have the required sports Pilot certificate and will be

considered the PIC wether flying or supervising and will be responsible for the safe

operation of the UAS at all times.

3. The DJI Phantom 3 has a maximum takeoff weight of 1300 grams or approximately

2.9 pounds. It has a diagonal length of 590mm and a maximum speed of 16 meters

per second.

4. The UAS utilizes GPS/GLONASS location and is controlled by a 2.4 GHz transmitter.

5. All UAS operations will be conducted at Visual Line Of Sight (VLOS) at no more
than 400 feet AGL.

6. No UAS operations will be conducted within 5 NM of an airport.

7. No UAS operations shall occur over densely populated areas, large assemblies of

people, stadiums, government buildings, power lines, or major roads.

8. All nonparticipating persons shall be a minimum of 500 feet from the UAS.

9. If a nonparticipating person comes within 500 feet of the UAS, flight operations will

cease immediately.

10. All UAS operations shall take place during daylight hours under conditions

equivalent to Visual Flight Rules (VFR) with the UAS no more than 3/4 NM from the

PIC.

11. All UAS operations will have a PIC and a Visual Observer (VO) present and all

operations will be within line of sight (LOS) of the PIC and VO.

12. The UAS will yield to all manned aircraft at all times.

13. All required permits and permissions will be obtained from local and state

government should they be required.

14. A pre-flight inspection by the PIC will be performed prior to each flight to assure that

the UAS is safe for flight. A post-flight inspection will also be performed as an added

level of safety. 

15. At no time shall the UAS be operated with missing or manufacturer unapproved 

parts, or in any condition that could pose a hazard to any other aircraft or structure or

person on the ground.

16. Prior to all UAS operations a pre-flight meeting will be held by the PIC to determine

the parameters of flight in a given location, any hazards present, weather conditions,

safety procedures at the specific location and approximate duration and route of

flight.

17. The PIC will have accumulated and accurately logged a minimum of 25 hours total

time as a UAS rotorcraft pilot with a minimum of 10 hours as a UAS pilot with a

multi-rotor UAS and 5 hours as a UAS pilot operating the same make and model of

UAS to be used for operations under the exemption.

18. The Phantom 3 UAS will utilize GPS/GLONASS location, auto return home and will 

never be operated at below 20% batter capacity.

The DJI Phantom 3 UAS is a small and safe sub 3 pound plastic and composite aircraft

utilizing four propellers driven by a 4480 mAh LiPo 4s 15.2v smart battery with a MAX 

flieght time of 23 minutes. The remote control/transmitter operates at 2.4 GHz. The

aircraft’s software has been set to FAA regulations of 400’ ceiling and recognizes zones 

around airports and forbids flight within 1.5 miles of the center of a type A airport, and 

outside the 1.5 miles up to 5 miles the altitude increase from 35’ to 400’ in a conical 

fashion. For example: at 1.5 miles out your limit is 35’ and at 3.25 Miles from the center 

the max altitude AGL is 217.5’. I think this feature is great and allows those who wish to 

take photos with their drone at say 10’ AGL 2 miles from an Airport, they are more than 

safe in doing so. The incorporated FLY SAFE technology also restricts flights in areas 

deemed not permitted by the FAA, for example Washington D.C.

The aircraft will automatically return to point of origin or descend in place should signal

with the transmitter be lost. The UAS is unmanned, operates at low altitudes, does not
run on combustible fuel, has very low decibel level noise emissions and has a small

payload capacity and short flight time, thus significantly reducing current risk levels

involved with utilizing manned aircraft for aerial photography.

Additionally, past purchasers of aerial photography have had to contract with manned

aircraft operations at a significant expense. J3 Photography’s UAS operations will 

provide a public benefit in allowing more people to access aerial photography images 

and video at a significantly lower price and in the process we will be providing that data 

at a greater or at least equivalent level of safety as compared to similar manned 

operations.

It is the applicants belief that the small size of the Phantom 3 UAS, the basic operating

parameters outlined above, the specific exemptions discussed below, the fully trained,

certified and vetted crew and the equivalent level of safety provided at a much lower 

cost to the general public will allow the FAA to grant an exemption to J3 Photography

(Jeremiah Jewell) for commercial UAS aerial photography operations under the Reform 

Act of 2012.

The exemption requests follow below. The DJI Phantom 3 User’s Manuals links are as 

follows:

Quick Start Guide:

http://download.djiinnovations.com/downloads/phantom_3/en/Phantom_3_Professional_Quick_Start_Guid

e_en.pdf

User Manual:

http://download.djiinnovations.com/downloads/phantom_3/en/Phantom_3_Professional_User_Manual_v1.

0_en.pdf

Sincerely,

Jeremiah Jewell

J3 Photography

3475 Harper Dr

Nashport, OH 43830

740-704-5904

jjnjjewell@prodigy.net
EXEMPTION REQUESTS AND EQUIVALENT LEVEL OF SAFETY

J3 Photography, requests an exemption from the following regulations as well as 

anyadditional regulations that may technically apply to the operation of the Phantom 3 UAS.

14 CFR Part21, Subpart H: 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 UAS, we request an experimental 

certificate be issued for the UAS operated by the applicant under either or both of the following 

provisions:

21 .191 Experimental certificates.

Experimental certificates are issued for the following purposes:

(a) Research and development. Testing new aircraft design concepts, new aircraft

equipment, new aircraft installations, new aircraft operating techniques, or new uses for

aircraft.

(b) Showing compliance with regulations. Conducting flight tests and other

operations to show compliance with the airworthiness regulations including flights to

show compliance for issuance of type and supplemental type certificates, flights to

substantiate major design changes, and flights to show compliance with the function

and reliability requirements of the regulations.

Since the experimental certificate can be used for commercial purposes such as market

surveys, sales demonstrations, and customer crew training, we would expect that an

experimental certificate would permit our commercial purpose as well.

The aircraft will not carry persons or property and will only fly under strict operational

requirements. As the Phantom 3 UAS also carries no combustible fuel, weighs less than

3 pounds and is constructed primarily of plastics and composites, we propose the UAS

is at least as safe, if not significantly safer than conventionally certified aircraft used

within similar parameters.

If an experimental airworthiness certificate is not appropriate for this application, then we

request an exemption of 14 CFR Part21, Subpart H, and the requirement for an

airworthiness certificate in general, citing the equivalent level of safety outlined in the

previous paragraph.

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.”

As the UAS is too small to carry documentation, does not have an entrance and does

not carry a crew, we propose the following in order to meet the intent of 91.203 and

provide an equivalent level of safety. All documents deemed appropriate by the FAA for

this aircraft will be located at the operational ground station for each flight in proximity to
the PIC and VO and will be available for inspection on request. In order to identify the

aircraft, we propose to use the manufacturers model and production codes located on

the aircraft as well as appropriate registration numbers and the telephone number of the

manufacturer and J3 Photography affixed to the aircraft as well. Should the FAA deem

appropriate, we will also affix the word “EXPERIMENTAL” in the largest possible

lettering given the size of the UAS, as discussed further below.

14 CFR 45.23 Display of marks; general and 45.29 Size of marks.

These regulations provide that each aircraft must display "N" and the aircraft's

registration number in letters at least 3 inches high. Additionally, the aircraft must display

the word "EXPERIMENTAL" in letters at least 2 inches high near the entrance to the

cabin, cockpit, or pilot station. 

As the UAS does not have an entrance, may not have an FAA assigned registration

number and is of such small size, we propose to affix the word “EXPERIMENTAL” in the

largest possible lettering appropriate for the aircraft. Additionally, for each operation the

ground station will be clearly identified with a banner containing the words “UAS Ground

Station” that will be of appropriate size to be seen by any observer of the aircraft

operations. The ground station will also have all registration and identity documents

relating to the UAS.

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. The intent of this requirement is to ensure that

flight manual information is available to the aircrew while operating the aircraft.

J3 Photography requests an exemption to this requirement as the UAS cannot, given its

size, carry the flight manual. To meet an equivalent level of safety, we propose to have

the current manufacturers flight manual available to both the PIC and VO. 

14 CFR 91.109 Flight instruction; Simulated instrument flight and certain flight

tests.

The regulation provides that "No person may operate a civil aircraft that is being used for

flight instruction unless that aircraft has fully functioning dual controls." 

The controls for the UAS do not currently have a set of fully functioning dual controls. If

a UAS pilot is being trained, the pilot performing the training would be directly

supervising and could take over the controls from the pilot in training if the need arose.

This would be similar to the technique of a "throw-over type" control wheel in some fixed

wing aircraft. 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 provides that over sparsely populated areas the aircraft cannot be operated 

closer than 500 feet to any person, vessel, vehicle, or structure.

Since the UAS will be operating at a maximum 400 feet AGL, we cannot comply with

this requirement and thus ask for an exemption. 
14 CFR 9l.l21Altimeter settings.

The regulation provides that aircraft shall maintain cruising altitudes by reference to an

altimeter setting available within 100 nautical miles of the aircraft.

The UAV will always be flying below 400 feet AGL within VLOS of the PIC and VO that

will provide separation from terrain, structures and other aircraft. Also, the UAS will

continually transmit an AGL reading back to the controller at the ground station and the

AGL lock in the UAS’s software will be set to 400 feet, providing an equivalent level of

safety. 

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 that the intention here is to provide a reserve of fuel to remain aloft should a

landing be delayed or the landing point changed. The UAS is smart battery powered

and continually transmits battery charge information back to the ground station to be

evaluated by the PIC who will return the UAS back to the ground station when the

battery shows 20% remaining capacity. 

14 CFR Subpart E (91.401 -91.4171- Maintenance, Preventive Maintenance, and

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.

We propose that the PIC perform maintenance and inspection and “be authorized to

approve the aircraft for return to service.”