October 16, 2015

Mr. Albert S. O’Connor

President

O’Connor Aerial Videos & Editing LLC dba iDRONE

1010 Black Willow Drive Oviedo, FL 32765

Dear Mr. O’Connor:

Thank you for your letter received September 10, 2015, addressed to John Duncan, which was referred to the Office of Rulemaking. In that letter, you acknowledged that you received a signed exemption and Certificate of Waiver or Authorization from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on July 30, 2015, to operate an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) to conduct aerial videography, photography, mapping, and surveying with the DJI Phantom 2

and DJI Phantom 3 Professional UAS.

You stated that you had a few poi nts of concern with the conditions and limitations in your granted exemption. Your concerns and suggestio ns to those conditions and limitations are as

follows:

1. To re-define and clarify closed-set filmi ng as a limited-access area in an enclosed building;

2. To explain how an operator can have either a sport, private, or recreational pilot’s license to operate commercial UAS flights but forbidden from fl ying manned aircraft for commercial purposes;

3. To change the pilot’s license requirem ent for operations under 200 ft. above ground level (AGL), requiring that operators have no pilot’s license in order to conduct UAS operations;

4. To change the requirement for a visual observer (VO) from being mandated to recommended in UAS operations; and

5. To propose that a sales receipt from a U.S. distributor or U.S. retail store be the only proof necessary to prove the origin of pur chase to file for an aircraft N-Number.2

In response to your request to clarify the te rm “closed-set filming”, the FAA provides the following definition: closed-set filming refers to motion picture or television filming which is conducted in a pre-determined location where the operator has taken measures to ensure that

the area is secure. Access to th is area is limited to essent ial personnel and individuals who have consented to participating in the operation and were provided with a safety briefing prior to UAS filming operations. The conditions and limitation provided in an exemption permitting closed-set filming operations are appli cable to operations that occur outside as the FAA does not have regulatory jurisdiction over enclosed spaces. Your grant of exemption allows you to conduct aerial data collection oper ations only. If you wish to perform closed-set filming operations as described above, you must submit a new petition or a petition to amend your exemption.

As a result of the FAA’s requirement for a UAS pilot in command (PIC ) to hold either an airline transport, commercial, pr ivate, recreational, or sport pi lot certificate when operating a UAS for compensation or hire, the FAA grants relief from §§ 61.101(e)(4) and (5), and 61.113(a), to allow a PIC holding a recreational or private pilot certificate to operate a UAS for compensation and hire, subject to the conditio ns and limitations provided in your grant of exemption. The FAA also grants relief from § 61.315(a) to permit the ho lder of a sport pilot

certificate to act as the PIC of UAS operated under your ex emption. This relief does not preclude a certificated pilot from operating a ma nned aircraft which they are authorized to

serve in accordance with the ce rtificate they were issued. Ho wever, as you noted in your letter, operation of a manned ai rcraft for compensation or hire by a pilot holding a private, recreational, or sport pilot certificate is not permitted per §§ 61.101(e)(4) and (5), 61.113(a), 61.315(a). In providing the noted relief, the FAA assessed oper ating parameters surrounding these low-risk UAS operations as well as the li mited size, weight, and speed of the proposed UAS. This assessment cannot be applied to the operation of manned aircraft because the safety risks inherent in operating manned airc raft are higher when compared to operating

UAS.

Regarding your request to remove the requireme nt for a UAS PIC to hold either an airline transport, commercial, private, recreational, or sport pilot certificate when operating a UAS at altitudes below 200 feet AGL, Section 333 of Pub lic Law (PL) 112-95 allows the Secretary of Transportation to make a determination regard ing whether an airworthiness certificate is required for certain unmanned aircraft. However, it does not provide similar relief from the statutory requirement to hold an airman’s certificate (See 49 U.S.C. § 44711(a)). Therefore, the FAA does not possess the authority to ex empt the petitioner from the statutory requirement to hold an airman certificate. See Exemption No. 11110 (Trimble Navigation, Ltd.).

Regarding your request for exemption from th e requirement to use a dedicated VO during all UAS operations, in the grant of exemption to Aeryon Labs (Exemption No. 11213), the FAA addressed the safety basis for requiring a VO. The FAA has found that the VO provides an additional means to comply with the see a nd avoid requirements of § 91.113 and maintain visual line of sight (VLOS) with the UA. The VO’s responsibility is to maintain constant3

VLOS with the unmanned aircraft in order to avoid mid-air collisions with other aircraft or objects in the event that the PIC must momentarily break line of sight to look at indicators or

controls. Given the nature of the VO ta sk, the VO must be dedicated only to VO responsibilities and therefore the PIC cannot concurrently function as the VO.

Regarding your concerns about the level of documentation required to prove that your UAS was not registered in a foreign c ountry, please refer to the FAA site:

http://www.faa.gov/licenses_certificates/air craft_certification/ai rcraft_registry/UA/

.

With respect to the rest of your concerns, th e FAA will address them as a request for an amendment to your granted exemption. Once your petition has reached the federal docket, as was stated to you during a telephone conversa tion on September 14, 2015, we will proceed to process your letter as an amendment request.

Sincerely,

/s/

Lirio Liu Director, Office of Rulemaking