Below please find revised text for the “ Comments ” porti on of our Request for Exemption ( FAA

- 2016

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0363

- 0001 ) as per US DOT/FAA Request for Additi onal Inform ation ( FAA

- 2016

- 0363

- 0002 ) . This tex t is
intended a s an update to the tex t originally submitted in Response to RFIA ( FAA

- 2016

- 0363

- 0003).



# 14 CFR 61.113(a)

Exemption to 14 CFR, Section 61.113 (a): Private pilot privileges and limitations: Pilot in command

Section 61.113 (a) states:

" (a) no person who holds a private pilot certificate may act as a pilot in command of an aircraft that is carrying passengers or property for compensation or hire; nor may that person, for compensation or hire, act as pilot in command of an aircraft."

As PrecisionHawk will be operating an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), PrecisionHawk will be using private pilots as the Pilot in Command (PIC), per their existing 333 exemption, based on the PrecisionHawk Lancaster (MK III) UAV. These PICs are employees of Pre cisionHawk and will be compensated for their time per their employment contracts with PrecisionHawk. As such, PrecisionHawk is requesting exemption to 14 CFR Section 61.113 (a).

The EVLOS flights that PrecisionHawk conducts for the FAA’s Pathfinder Focus Area Two research will not involve an aircraft carrying passengers or property for hire. PrecisionHawk will not be charging for the flight operations as would be done in a commercial operation. The research for the UAS Pathfinder Focus Area Two, EVLOS, wi ll be a research and development activity under the Cooperative Research and Development Agreement signed by the FAA on June 12, 2015, and PrecisionHawk is not being compensated for these activities. While the pilot in command of the UAS for this EVLOS re search may be compensated as an employee or affiliate of the company, this does not equate to a c ompensation f or hire operation. Accordingly, no exemption from FAR 61.113(a) is required.

In any event these activities will therefore generally be in line with 14 CF R § 61.113 and will provide an equivalent level of safety. PrecisionHawk submits that because this small, unmanned aerial vehicle

- the
PrecisionHawk Lancaster Mk

- III

- will be used in lieu of comparatively hazardous operations now
conducted with fixed

- win g and rotary conventional aircraft, the FAA can have confidence that the operations will achieve at least an equivalent level or greater level of safety. The FAA has recognized this reduced risk in granting over 3, 000 exemptions from FAR 61.113(a) when it determined that an airman with a private pilot certificate would provide an equivalent level of safety as an airman with a commercial pilot certificate. Approval of this exemption would thereby enhance safety and fulfill theSecretary of Transportation 's (the FAA Administrator's) responsibilities to "establish requirements for

the safe operation of such aircraft systems in the national airspace system ."

It is anticipated that 14 CFR §91.113 See and Avoid will be waived as a part of the COA process, and so it is not included in the list of exemption petitions. However, to be clear about the view of thi s section, the following is provided. The pilot in command has a responsibility to see any intruder aircraft at all times and must avoid any intruding aircraft. This EVLOS operation will be a “See and Avoid” operation at all times. During the research flights a Safety Ob server (SO) will be stationed next to the pilot in command as an extra set of eyes to supplement the pilot’s observation of the sky. The remote visual observer will be part of the flight crew to enhance situational awareness of the pilot in command and to maintain visual surveillance of the airspace in which the UAV is flying at all times. Prior to conducting UAS operation a notification will be sent out to impacted aviation community to ensure awareness and enhance safety, and a NOTAM will be filed for eve ry day that flight activities will be conducted. These requirements for the flight crew obligation to see traffic and the pilot’s responsibility to maneuver to avoid the traffic combined with the notification provisions and the NOTAM will provide an equiva lent level of safety.

In addition, approval of this exemption will benefit the public by enabling the FAA's Pathfinder prog ram to eventually extend the commercial use of unmanned aerial vehicles in the NAS to include extended and beyond visual line of sight operations, thereby opening up countless new commercial opportunities
for American businesses. The Pathfinder initiative is a public

- private partnership with the FAA with the objective of expanding the current regulatory framework for the benefit of the Unmanned Aircraft Vehicle industry at large. Under EVLOS op erations a UAS operator will be able to conduct its agriculture analysis over a much larger area, possibly 5 times as large, thereby enhancing the effectiveness of this air commerce and providing a better service to the farmers and property owners. In addi tion to this improved service, the cost of these services can be reduced through economies of scale.