Aquilo LLC 1206 16th Ave 907-460-2592

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June 29th, 2015

U.S. Department of Transportation 

Docket Management System

1200 New Jersey Ave SE

Washington, DC, 20590

Dear Sir or Madam,

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

Reform Act) and 14 C.F.R. Part 11, Aqulio LLC, an operator of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems 

(“sUASs”) equipped for a variety of capabilities including aerial mapping, surveying, agricultural and 

infrastructure inspection, hereby applies for an exemption from the listed Federal Aviation Regulations 

(“FARs”) to allow commercial operation of its sUASs, so long as such operations are conducted within 

and under the conditions outlined herein or as may be established by the FAA as required by Section 

333.

The requested exemption would permit the operation of sUAS under controlled conditions in airspace 

that is 1) limited, 2) predetermined, 3) controlled as to access and 4) would provide safety 

enhancements to various fields such as Oil and Gas (infrastructure inspection) and construction (road 

surveying and bridge inspection) and has the potential to enhance efficiency in such key public sectors 

as agriculture, mining and environmental monitoring. Further details are provided below.

Approval of this exemption would thereby increase safety, enhance efficiency and provide key sectors of 

the Alaskan economy with further tools for effective and productive operations, and thereby fulfill the 

Secretary of Transportation’s (the FAA Administrator’s) responsibilities to “...establish requirements for 

the safe operation of such aircraft systems in the national airspace system.” Section 333(c) of the 

Reform Act. 

The name and address of the applicant is:

Aquilo, LLC

1206 16th Ave

Fairbanks, AK, 99701

info@aquiloalaska.com

Regulations from which the exemption is requested:

14 CFR Part 21

14 CFR 45.23(b)

14 CFR 45.29

14 CFR 61.3

14 CFR 61.113(a) & (b)
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14 CFR 61.133(a)

14 CFR 91.7 (a)

14 CFR 91.9 (b) (2)

14 CFR 91.103

14 CFR 91.109

14 CFR 91.119 

14 CFR 91.121

14 CFR 91.151 (a)

14 CFR 91.203 (a) & (b)

14 CFR 91.405 (a)

14 CFR 407 (a) (1)

14 CFR 409 (a) (2)

14 CFR 417 (a) & (b)

This exemption application is expressly submitted to fulfill Congress’ goal in passing Section 333(a) 

through (c) of the Reform Act. This law directs the Secretary of Transportation to consider whether 

certain unmanned aircraft systems may operate safely in the national airspace system (NAS) before 

completion of the rulemaking required under Section 332 of the Reform Act. In making this 

determination, the Secretary is required to determine which types of UASs do not create a hazard to 

users of the NAS or the public or pose a threat to national security in light of the following:

• The UAS’s size, weight, speed, and operational capability;

• Operation of the UAS in close proximity to airports and populated areas; and

• Operation of the UAS within visual line of sight of the operator.

Reform Act § 333 (a). Lastly, if the Secretary determines that such vehicles “may operate safely in the 

national airspace system, the Secretary shall establish requirements for the safe operation of such 

aircraft in the national airspace system.” Id. §333(c) (emphasis added) 2. The Federal Aviation Act 

expressly grants the FAA the authority to issue exemptions. This statutory authority by its terms includes 

exempting civil aircraft, as the term is defined under §40101 of the Act, which includes sUASs, from the 

requirement that all civil aircraft must have a current airworthiness certificate.

The requested exemption would authorize commercial operations using the following aircraft:

 DJI S1000 octocopter

 DJI S800 and S900 hexacopters

 DJI Phantom 3 and Inspire 1 quadcopters

 3DR Aero fixed-wing

All of these aircraft have been previously approved for Section 333 exemptions and are well-known, 

heavily used and highly reliable vehicles. 

The applications targeted are those of aerial mapping, surveying, photography, infrastructure inspection 

including roads, bridges, dams, and other industrial structures like flare stacks and pipelines, surveying 

mines and other construction projects, collecting images and video of marketed real estate to assist 

home owners in selling their property and wildlife monitoring. In addition, Aquilo wishes to perform notfor-profit community outreach and educational demonstrations for the purpose of enhancing the public 

awareness of unmanned aircraft, and increasing interest in STEM education. Aquilo understands that 
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this is a large number of broad applications, but we believe that none of them set precedence and all of 

them are applications that have previously been approved. The need for the variety of applications is 

that it is not possible to currently predict the directions the UAS market will go and Aquilo wants to be 

prepared for the possibilities. Aquilo believes that the fact none of these applications are novel for 

commercial UAS use, and the depth and breadth of the experience of its members are sufficient 

justification to grant the requested applications. 

See Appendix A for equivalent level of safety showings.

Aircraft Characteristics

The DJI S800, S900 and S1000 are from a family of multirotor frames manufactured by DJI and 

frequently used by both hobbyists and professionals for use in aerial filming, mapping and surveying 

applications. The aircraft are all electric propulsion and outfitted with the APM or Pixhawk autopilots, 

intelligent and well-tested pieces of control hardware that are in use in numerous other aircraft flying 

under previously granted exemptions. 

The DJI Phantom 3 and Inspire quadcopters are also manufactured by DJI and contain the DJI autopilot 

hardware and software that are in use all over the world for a wide variety of applications. These electric 

aircraft are also currently being operated by numerous Section 333 exemption holders and are among 

some of the most widely-flown and well-tested multirotors in the market today.

The 3DR Skywalker Aero is a small, fixed-wing platform designed primarily for aerial mapping. It is an 

electric hand-launched aircraft with a wingspan of less than 40 inches and a maximum take-off weight of 

only 6.8 lbs. It utilizes the Pixhawk autopilot with the Ardupilot software combined with a variety of 

sensors, including on-board GPS, to safely perform preprogrammed autonomous flights.

The Aero is so light that the operator can launch it by hand and let it land on almost any surface without 

requiring a parachute or landing net (belly land). Its low impact energy (38 J in case of a controlled 

emergency landing) also significantly reduces the risk of hazardous situations. Finally, the wings of the 

Aero are detachable and made of flexible foam with no sharp or hard edges and almost no internal 

strengthening structure.

All of these aircraft have, in addition to their autonomous flight functions, the ability for the operator to 

take manual flight control at any time whenever required. This allows for redundant controls over the 

flight patterns of the aircraft and further increases the safety of operations. 

Operator Experience and Qualifications

Aquilo, LLC is an unmanned aircraft operations company whose primary mission is to safely and 

responsibly use unmanned aircraft to advance industry, infrastructure, wildlife management, and more. 

Our team is comprised of electrical, electronics, and RF engineers, UAV operators, private pilots, student 

pilots, and ultralight instructors, and soon will include data management and analysis. We have decades 
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of combined experience in the safe operations of RC aircraft and, in the last several years, autonomous 

unmanned aircraft. 

Aquilo is a subsidiary of Northern Embedded Solutions, LLC (NES), which is one of the key partners of 

both the Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration (ACUASI) and the Pan-Pacific UAS Test 

Range Complex (PPUTRC), one of the six FAA designated test sites. NES provides nearly all the 

engineering support for these organizations and has provided much of its logistics and operations 

support as well. Working with them, NES has designed, fabricated, and test flown all their custom 

payloads, as well as modifying other aircraft to meet new needs. 

Over the years, in addition to all the background engineering and preparation of the aircraft, NES 

personnel have acted as project manager of a multi-million dollar operation involving 10 hour flights 

over 100 miles off-shore, operated a multirotor through the treacherous canyons of the Snake River in 

Idaho, and worked as logisticians to ensure successful deployment. We have background in operations 

as small as single 20 minute flights in the local area to the large multi-million dollar deployments 

requiring C130’s to haul the gear to location. Through it all NES/Aquilo gained valuable experience in 

each aspect of unmanned aircraft operations.

Below is a short list of the more prominent missions in which NES personnel have had active duties.

Idaho Power Company (IPC) hired ACUASI to do salmon counts along the Snake River and some of its 

tributaries that are affected by IPC’s hydroelectric dams. ACUASI flew the Aeryon Scout for eight weeks 

each summer for two years, flying over rivers and through deep canyons in GPS-reduced environments. 

NES was actively involved in every stage of these operations, from planning to COA applications to 

piloting the aircraft. 

ENI petroleum has operations on the North Slope of Alaska. NES was involved in a mission to inspect 

their flare stacks so they would not have to shut down their operations to inspect the stacks and also 

performed further infrastructure inspection and wild life monitoring. During one of the flare stack 

inspections, NES and ACUASI personnel responded to a polar bear sighting, and were able to monitor the 

animal with a sUAS until it had safely moved away from the camp.

Shell Oil hired ACUASI and PPUTRC to spot and count whales in the Chukchi Sea off the coast of Northern 

Alaska. The aircraft was a modified Insitu ScanEagle, named the Nanook. The four week long operation 

took the aircraft over 100 miles off the coast of Northern Alaska looking for whales inside the operating 

area of the oil platforms. NES provided project management, engineering and operations support 

throughout the duration of this mission.

ACUASI sent NES personnel to Iceland in 2014 to fully test and vet their newest system, the Ptarmigan 

hexacopter. For three weeks NES personnel flew six to eight flights every day under varying weather 

conditions and with different aircraft configurations to ensure the airworthiness of the aircraft. This gave 

NES members familiarity with the main autopilot and ground control station used by the aircraft and 

experience operating in a wide variety of weather conditions.
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This spring ACUASI and NES were involved in an operation in Homer, Alaska, with the dual purpose of 

getting a base-line measurement of low-tide sea grass beach coverage, as well as doing a study to 

determine whether sea otters would be disturbed by small multirotor aircraft, which would allow 

scientists to use the multirotors to do closer observations of their feeding habits1. NES and ACUASI

worked closely with all regulatory departments to obtain all the necessary permissions, including the 

COA allowing operations in Class E airspace bordering the Homer airport. 

Concurrent with the Homer mission, NES provided engineering and operations support for an ACUASI 

mission up on the sea ice north of Barrow, Alaska to map sea ice for native subsistence whalers.2 Our 

team worked closely with the local FSS to make sure all the NOTAMs were in place and to coordinate 

airspace deconfliction.

For the last two years, ACUASI and PPUTRC have maintained an operational testing site at Poker Flat 

Research Range just north of Fairbanks. Our team has had several dozen flights at that range, testing 

new custom payloads for the aircraft that ACUASI and PPUTRC operate. We’ve been involved in every 

aspect of using that test range, including calling in NOTAMs and flying the aircraft.

Public Interest

Alaska’s economy has been described as a “three-legged stool”3, comprising the oil and gas industry, the 

Federal Government, and all the other miscellaneous sectors. This lack of economic diversification 

results in an economy tied to the vagaries of the oil and gas markets, and the political fluctuations in 

Federal resources and funding. Currently the Alaska State budget is facing a crisis due to slumped oil 

price and resulting in hard times and reduced funding around the state, including in critical public 

sectors such as the University of Alaska. 

To achieve a more stable economic outlook, Alaska needs to develop new industries. One potential 

avenue for this is the technology sector growing up around unmanned aircraft. Already the state has 

shown leadership in the industry by becoming one of the six FAA unmanned aircraft Test Sites, and with 

the University developing its own unmanned aircraft program: the Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft 

Systems Integration (ACUASI). Around the infrastructure laid down by these organizations a fragile tech 

ecosystem has started to develop with spin-off companies such as the software development company 

Arctic Fire Development Corporation and the previously mentioned engineering company Northern 

Embedded Solutions. 

The next logical step is the development of commercial operators of unmanned aircraft. With the 

PPUTRC and ACUASI organizations located in-state, these operators should be well positioned to 

 

1

http://www.suasnews.com/2015/06/36416/alaska-researchers-study-sea-otters-with-unmanned-aircraft/

2

http://www.suasnews.com/2015/05/36118/unmanned-aircraft-used-to-survey-ice-for-whalers/

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[1] “What Drives the Alaska Economy?”, Goldsmith, Scott, UA Research Summary No. 13, 2008.

Available: http://www.iser.uaa.alaska.edu/Publications/researchsumm/UA_RS_13.pdf
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prosper, growing the Alaskan economy and also advancing the general state of the art for UAS 

technology. The FAA has already granted several exemptions to Alaskan commercial UAS operators, so 

this will simply be the extension of that trend. 

In addition to economic and technological benefits to granting this exemption, there is the potential for 

public benefit in several industries that Aquilo is targeting. Infrastructure inspection of oil and gas 

facilities such as flare stacks is an inherently risky endeavor, a risk which can be mitigated by the use of 

unmanned aircraft. Construction and infrastructure maintenance, such as road building and bridge 

inspection can benefit by the use of UAS. Finally, Alaska does not have an extensive agriculture sector, 

but what it does have can be increased in efficiency through the use of sUAS to provide farmers with 

accurate and precise data related to crop health. 

Federal Register Summary

Pursuant to 14 C.F.R. § 11.81(f), the following summary is provided for publication in the

Federal Register, should the FAA determine that publication is needed:

Docket No.: No. FAA-2015-____

Petitioner: Aquilo LLC 

Section of 14 CFR: Part 21, § 61.113(a) and (b), § 91.7(a), § 91.9(b)(2), § 91.103, § 91.109 § 91.119(c), § 

91.121, § 91.151(a), § 91.203, § 91.405 (a), § 91.407 (a)(1), § 91.409 (a)(2), and § 91.417 (a) & (b).

Description of Relief Sought: Aquilo is seeking an exemption to conduct commercial operations in the 

areas of aerial inspection, mapping, surveying and other applications, using various small unmanned 

aircraft.

Conclusion

Aquilo LLC, a group of experienced engineers and UAS operators, respectfully requests exemption from 

the above stated regulations to allow commercial operations of several sUAS. Aquilo believes that the 

justification provided shows 1) the experience of its team, 2) how the public benefits from granting the 

exemption, and 3) how equivalent levels of safety will be provided in lieu of adhering to the specific 

regulations. Therefore, Aquilo requests the FAA grant the requested exemption without delay.

Respectfully,

Samuel Vanderwaal

Managing Member, Aquilo LLC
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Appendix A: Exemption Request and Equivalent Level of Safety Showings 

Under Applicable Rules Subject to Exemption

14 C.F.R. Part 21, Subpart H: Airworthiness Certificates

Part 21, Subpart H, entitled Airworthiness Certificates, establishes the procedural requirements for the 

issuance of airworthiness certificates as required by § 91.203(a)(1). Given the size and weight of the 

aircraft, the restricted operating conditions and the various design safety features, it is unnecessary for 

these aircraft to procure certificates of airworthiness. Section 333 and 49 U.S.C. § 44701(f) both 

authorize the FAA to exempt aircraft from the requirement for an airworthiness certificate, upon 

consideration of the size, weight, speed, operational capability, and proximity to airports and populated 

areas of the sUAS involved. The FAA has previously granted exemptions to this regulation to all of the 

aircraft Aquilo is requesting exemptions for, so precedence has been set. 

14 C.F.R. 45.23 & 14 C.F.R. 45.29: Display of marks; size of marks

These regulations require each aircraft to display “N” and aircraft registration number in lettering at 

least three inches high. In addition, the aircraft must display the word “EXPERIMENTAL” near the 

entrance to the cabin, cockpit or pilot station, in lettering at least two inches high. 

Given the size of the Aquilo aircraft, this requirement is not feasible to implement, nor does attempting 

to implement it provide additional safety during operations to either the general public or the 

commercial operator.

14 C.F.R. § 61.3: Requirements for certificates, ratings and authorizations

14 C.F.R. § 61.113(a) & (b); 61.133(a): Private Pilot Privileges and Limitations; Pilot in

Command; Commercial Pilot Privileges and Limitations

These regulations require that no person may serve as a required pilot flight crewmember of a civil

aircraft of the United States, unless that person:

(1) Has a pilot certificate or special purpose pilot authorization issued under this part in that

person's physical possession or readily accessible in the aircraft when exercising the privileges of

that pilot certificate or authorization. However, when the aircraft is operated within a foreign

country, a pilot license issued by that country may be used.

The regulation provides also that no person that holds a private pilot certificate may act as pilot in

command of an aircraft for compensation or hire. Subparagraph (b) allows a private pilot to act as

pilot in command of an aircraft in connection with any business or employment if:

(1) The flight is only incidental to that business or employment;

(2) The aircraft does not carry passengers or property for compensation or hire.

Given the following characteristics of these UAS operations:

 The advanced nature of the autopilot safety features

 Monitoring of missions in real-time with flight management software

 Dual redundant aircraft control links

 Lack of passengers or cargo on board the UAS

 The experience of Aquilo operators flying UAS in more complicated airspace (e.g. Class E) for the 

PPUTRC
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Aquilo respectfully requests that its operators not be required to hold commercial pilot certification. 

Instead, operators will maintain current ground school and third class medical certificates or a valid U.S. 

driver's license issued by a state, in addition to aircraft specific training.

14 CFR 91.7(a): Civil aircraft airworthiness

This regulation requires that no person may operate a civil aircraft unless it is in airworthy condition. 

Should the exemption be granted allowing commercial operation of the requested aircraft without 

airworthiness certificates, no standard will exist for airworthiness of the aircraft. Instead, Aquilo 

operators will maintain the aircraft following maintenance testing, airworthiness and maintenance 

procedures they helped develop for PPUTRC. By maintaining a level of airworthiness comparable to that 

of one of the prominent UAS Test Sites, Aquilo believes it will be able to maintain its operational aircraft 

in sufficient condition as to be exempted from 14 CFR 91.7(a). 

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

The regulation provides that aircraft flight manuals must be in aircraft during operations so as to be 

accessible to the pilot and crew. Clearly this regulation does not make sense for unmanned aircraft 

wherein the crew remain on the ground during operations. In addition, the size of the specific 

unmanned aircraft owned by Aquilo, make it infeasible to carry operating manuals on board. Instead, if 

exempted from this regulation, Aquilo will maintain operations manuals on the ground accessible to 

pilot and crew during operations. This fulfills the spirit of the regulation and maintains an equivalent 

level of safety. 

14 C.F.R. § 91.109(a) & 91.319(a)(1): Flight Instruction

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."

Whenever feasible, Aquilo shall employ dual controls for training purposes. However, exemption is still 

requested from this regulation due to the nature of sUAS aircraft in that:

 Training can often be conducted in-doors in a safe environment (e.g. large, contained 

warehouse)

 Training flights can be of a very conservative nature (e.g. hover a few feet off of the ground to 

practice controls)

 All aircraft are equipped with autopilots that provide, at minimum, stabilization control, and at a 

maximum, complete autonomous control

 Experience with controls can be gained on even smaller and safer UAS (e.g. Blade Nano, 

weighing less than an ounce)

14 CFR 91.119: Minimum Safe Altitudes

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 Aquilo aircraft will be operating at a maximum of 400 feet AGL, the exempted aircraft cannot 

comply with this requirement. An equivalent level of safety will be provided by the small size of the 

aircraft, careful analysis of the airspace to be flown in, PPE as appropriate, and maintaining safe 

separation from any non-participants during operations. 

14 CFR 91.121 – Altimeter settings

This section requires that each person operating an aircraft shall maintain the cruising altitude or
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flight level of that aircraft, as the case may be, by reference to an altimeter that is set, when

operating below 18,000 feet MSL to:

 The current reported altimeter setting of a station along the route and within 100 nautical miles 

of the aircraft;

 If there is no station within the area prescribed in paragraph (a)(1)(i) of this section, the current 

reported altimeter setting of an appropriate available station;

 In the case of an aircraft not equipped with a radio, the elevation of the departure airport or an 

appropriate altimeter setting available before departure.

Aquilo aircraft use on-board GPS and barometers to calculate altitude, using the reference ground level 

set during pre-flight calibration and checks. The combination of the GPS and barometer data is precise 

enough to maintain reliable flight altitudes and so provides an equivalent level of safety. In addition, 

Aquilo hopes to integrate laser altimeters into aircraft in the future to provide even more reliable 

altitude data.

14 CFR 91.151(a): 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. Most electric UAS have flight times of less than 30 minutes making it impossible to follow this 

regulation. However, where these regulations establish safety procedures for manned aircraft using fuel, 

electric UAS using batteries have comparable safety settings by tracking remaining battery capacity and 

implementing voltage cutoff levels to indicate minimum reserve levels have been reached. The 

autopilots to be used on the exempted UAS allow for adjustable reserve “cut-off” levels. In operations 

for PPUTRC and ACUASI values of 30% were set for the “fuel” reserve requirement, which is significantly 

more conservative than the requirements provided by 14 CFR 91.151(a). Similar values will be used by 

Aquilo for operations. 

14 CFR Subpart E (91.401 - 91.417) - 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 Parts 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. Section 91.409(a)(2) requires an annual inspection for the issuance of an 

airworthiness certificate. Section 91.417(a) requires the owner or operator to keep records showing 

certain maintenance work that has been accomplished by certificated mechanics, under Part 43, or 

licensed pilots and records of approval of the aircraft for return to service. Aquilo proposes that the 

maintenance of their aircraft will be accomplished by their operators in accordance with standards 

developed in cooperation with the PPUTRC. Aquilo operators are very familiar with their systems and 

are best positioned to provide regular maintenance of aircraft. In addition, the exempted aircraft are 

modular in design making for easy replacement of faulty components such as propellers or landing gear. 

This combined with the automatic calibration and error checking capabilities of modern autopilots such 

as the Pixhawk will ensure an equivalent level of safety in keeping Aquilo aircraft under proper 

maintenance and preventive care.