Jim Williams

UAS Integration Office Federal Aviation Administration 800 Independence Avenue SW Washington, DC 20591

May 12 th , 2015

Re: Re: Docket FAA 2014

- 0727, Petition for Amendment to Exemption No. 11263

Dear Mr. Williams:

SenseFly received FAA Exemption No. 11263 on April 1, 2015 authorizing senseFly under section 333 of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 to operate its unmanned aircraft system (“UAS”), the eBee, for various commercial purposes. In this present p etition for an amendment to Exemption No. 11263, senseFly seeks to operate its recently developed eXom UAS for the same
purposes.
The eXom, weighting 3.7 pounds (M aximum T ake O ff W eight ), contains a rich array of advanced integrated sensors. These sensor s work together to provide the user with full situational awareness and support obstacle avoidance:

• Five ‘Navcam’ vision sensors allow the operator to see in the direction the drone is moving via its flight control software, without needing to turn the sys tem’s TripleView camera head. This technology is unique in such a lightweight UAS, similar to the visual parking sensors in modern cars, but brought into a 3D flight environment.

• Five ultrasonic proximity sensors work in harmony with eXom’s Navcams to ensu re the operator always knows the drone’s distance from nearby objects. (The drone’s shock

absorbent carbon fiber shrouding is also always on hand to protect its rotors in case of surface contact.)

• Numerous other sensors, including inertial measurement unit s, barometers, magnetometers, GPS and magnetic encoders, maximize the drone’s stability and safety.eXom offers different flight modes to suit every project: semi

- automatic mode (waypoint navigation) or interactive ScreenFly mode (using the supplied joypad to navigate and orientate the drone via computer screen). The Screenfly mode includes flight assistance features such as cruise control and distance lock. In any situation, RC

- based manual control always remains available as a backup function.

The eXom is particularly safe. It was developed with flexible material absorbing potential shocks, and SenseFly R&D team has developed also a unique carbon

- fiber shrouding protecting the propellers. We have added also redundancy in our command and control system

. In case something happens to the primary autopilot, the eXom will switch automatically to the secondary autopilot.

SenseFly will comply with all of the conditions and limitations imposed in Exemption 11263 except that condition/limitation number 1 will need t o be revised to include the eXom UAS. The list of “operating documents” will also need to be revised to include senseFly’s ( operating manual and safety assessment ) for the eXom UAS, which will be provided separately to the FAA. Other than these revision s, there will be no change in the conditions and reasons relative to public safety that were the basis for the initial grant of exemption.

Because the requested amendment would not set any precedent or otherwise raise any novel issue, and because senseFly seeks to begin these operations without delay, senseFly respectfully requests the FAA to determine that good cause exists to dispense with publication of the summary of this petition in the Federal Register and grant the requested amendment expeditiously b y summary

means.
Thank you for your consideration of this petition.

Sincerely,

Jean

- Christophe Zufferey (CEO)