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, 

Accordance to Section 333 of the FAA Modernization and Reform 

Act of 2012 (the Reform Act), I, Shawn Hoover, DBA Aspen 

Realty, Inc., hereby apply for an exemption from Federal Aviation 

Regulations (FARs) detailed below to allow for commercial 

operations of a Yuneec Typhoon 500+ 4 rotor UAS with an 

attached CGO2 Gimbal Mount holding a 4K UHD Camera for the 

purpose of aerial photography and video for a Real Estate and 

client requests. As the Reform Act allows the FAA to “establish 

requirements for the safe operation of such aircraft systems in the 

national airspace system”, I, Shawn Hoover, use of the Yuneec 

Typhoon 500+ will provide the following benefits and enhance or 

provide an equivalent level of safety. 

1. The Yuneec Typhoon 500+ 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 Yuneec Typhoon 500+ offers significant safety, noise, 

emission, security and environmental benefits not available to 

larger manned aircraft. 

3. The Yuneec Typhoon 500+ 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. 
4. Operations utilizing the Yuneec Typhoon 500+ 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. It will be taken with the most 

seriousness. Safety is number one and that is why I wish to request 

this exemption. 

2. The Yuneec Typhoon 500+ 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. 

3. The UAS utilizes GPS/GLONASS location and is controlled by 

a 2.4 GHz transmitter. 

4. 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. Safety will be the most 

important thing. 
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 Visual Observer (VO) present 

and all operations will be within line of sight (LOS) of the 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 or observation 

will be held 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. If any are found, no flight will take place. 

17. The Yuneec Typhoon 500+ UAS will utilize GPS/GLONASS 

location, auto return home and will never be operated at below 

20% batter capacity. 

The Yuneec Typhoon 500+ UAS is a small and safe sub 10 pound 

plastic and composite aircraft utilizing four propellers driven by a 

4480 mAh LiPo 4s 15.2v smart battery with a MAX flight 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. I, 

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 Yuneec 500+ 

UAS, the basic operating parameters outlined above, the specific 

exemptions discussed below, equivalent level of safety provided at 

a much lower cost to the general public will allow the FAA to grant 

an exemption to DBA Aspen Realty, Inc. for commercial UAS 

aerial photography operations under the Reform Act of 2012. 

The exemption requests follow below.Thank you for taking the 

time to read and consider this request. 
Sincerely,

Shawn Hoover

Aspen Realty, Inc.

P.O. Box 338

MCGregor, MN. 55760

Petition for Part 21; and 45.23(b); 61.113(a) & (b); 91.7(a); 91.9(b)

(2); 91.103(b); 91.109; 91.119; 91.121, 91.151(a); 91.203(a) & (b); 

91.405(a); 91.407(a)(1); 91.409(a)(2); and 91.417(a) & (b) of Title 

14, Code of Federal Regulations