Petition for Exemption

Federal Aviation Administration

Re: Unmanned Aircraft System use in NAS for compensation

 Petitioner, Birdseye Cinema. , hereby petitions the Federal 

Aviation Administration (“FAA”) for an exemption from Part 21; 

§§ 45.23(b); 61.113(a) and (b); 91.7(a); 91.9(b)(2); 91.103; 91.109; 

91.119; 91.121; 91.151(a); 91.203(a) and (b); 91.405(a); 

91.407(a)(1); 91.409(a)(2); and 91.417(a) and (b) of Title 14, Code 

of Federal Regulations (14 CFR). The proposed exemption, if 

granted, would allow operation of unmanned aircraft systems 

(UAS) for the purpose of closed-set filming for the motion picture 

and television industry.

 The terms and conditions of Grant of Exemption No. 11062 

(Petition of Astraeus Aerial, Regulatory Docket No. FAA-2014-

0352) are hereby incorporated by this reference as if fully set for 

herein with the exception of the mandatory Class 3 medical 

certificate.

Petitioner hereby proposes the following terms and conditions for 

the grant of the exemption requested herein:

 The UAS proposed by the petitioner, the Inspire 1 is an 

unmanned four-rotor, four-motor “quadcopter” manufactured by 

DJI. The UAS is under 45pounds, will be flown at all times under 

400 feet AGL as measured by the UAS’ on-board GPS system, 

will be kept within line of sight of the Pilot in Command (“PIC”), 

will have a separate safety Visual Observer (“VO”) at all times in 

communication with and within 5 feet of the PIC, will be flown at 

all times at speeds of no greater than 40 miles per hour, will be 

flown at all times during daylight hours, always using Visual 

Flight Rules (“VFR”) and within visual line of sight (“VLOS”), 
and never using first person view by the PIC. The PIC will be able 

to use human vision unaided by any device other than corrective 

lenses as specified by a current state-issued driver’s license. The 

PIC will provide the local Flight Standards District Office 

(“FSDO”) with notice of all of flight operations no less than 72 

hours in advance of any intended flight. Each PIC will have over 

100 hours of logged flight experience in the same UAS type or 

model, including 10 take offs and landings within the prior 30 

days. The PIC will conduct a full and complete inspection of 

aircraft prior to the initial takeoff of each flight.

Public Benefit

 Rotorcraft are, except as provided in Section §91.119, of the 

Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) not allowed to fly less than 

500 feet AGL. UAS on the other hand are best when flown 

between 50 and 300 feet AGL and in fact the best video quality is 

50 to 100 feet. Standard manned Rotorcraft could and have caused

very serious damage including death to persons or property on the 

ground and even to pilots and passengers inside a manned 

Rotorcraft. A UAS weighing in at under twenty pounds would not 

be nearly as hazardous. Additionally, a Standard Rotorcraft is 

larger than a standard truck whereas the UAS is substantially

smaller. It is considerably safer for the public to have a UAS 

accomplish the job of aerial photography or videography than a 

manned helicopter just based on size alone.

In addition, the UAS can be operated for substantially less costs, 

and less environmental impact than a regular manned helicopter. 

The public is significantly served by reducing the cost of 

videography via UAS aircraft.

Proposed Operational Parameters

The PIC will follow the manufacturer’s UAS aircraft/component, 

maintenance, overhaul, replacement, inspection, and life limit 
requirements. When unavailable, aircraft 

maintenance/component/overhaul, replacement, and 

inspection/maintenance requirements will be established and 

identified in the operator’s manual. At a minimum, the following 

will be included in the operator’s manual:

1. Actuators / Servos 

2. Transmission (single rotor) 

3. Powerplant (motors) 

4. Propellers 

5. Electronic speed controller 

6. Batteries 

7. Mechanical dynamic components (single rotor) 

8. Remote command and control 

9. Ground control station (if used) 

10. Any other components as determined by the operator Prior 

to each flight the PIC will inspect the UAS to ensure it is in a 

condition for safe 

flight. If the inspection reveals a condition that affects the safe 

operation of the UAS, the aircraft will be prohibited from 

operating until the necessary maintenance has been performed and 

the UAS is found to be in a condition for safe flight. The Ground 

Control Station, if utilized, will be included in the preflight 

inspection. All maintenance and alterations will be properly 

documented in the aircraft records.

Any UAS that has undergone maintenance or alterations that affect 
the UAS operation or flight characteristics (e.g. replacement of a 

flight critical component) will undergo a functional test flight in 

accordance with the operator’s manual. The PIC who conducts the 

functional test flight will make an entry in the UAS aircraft records 

of the flight. The requirements and procedures for a functional test 

flight and aircraft record entry must be added to the operator’s 

manual.

Prior to operations conducted for the purpose of motion picture 

filming (or similar operations), the PIC must have accumulated and 

logged, in a manner consistent with 14 CFR § 61.51 (b), a 

minimum of five hours as a UAS pilot operating the make and 

model of UAS to be utilized for operations under the exemption 

and three take-offs and three landings in the preceding 90 days. 

Training, proficiency, experience-building, and take-off and 

landing currency flights can be conducted under this grant of 

exemption to accomplish the required flight time and 90 day 

currency. During training, proficiency, experience-building, and 

take-off and landing currency flights all persons not essential for 

flight operations are considered non-participants, and the PIC must 

operate the UA with appropriate distance from non-participants in 

accordance with 14 CFR § 91.119.

Prior to any flight operations authorized by this grant of 

exemption, the PIC and VO must have successfully completed a 

qualification process, as outlined in the operator’s manual. As this 

is a requirement stipulated by the operator, the test must be 

developed and implemented by a qualified person designated at the 

sole discretion of the operator. A record of completion of this 

qualification process must be documented and made available to 

the Administrator of the FAA (the “Administrator”) upon request.

Prior to operations conducted for the purpose of motion picture 

filming (or similar operations), a flight demonstration, 

administered by an operator-approved and qualified pilot must be 
successfully completed and documented. This documentation must 

be available for review upon request by the Administrator. Because 

the knowledge and airmanship test qualifications have been 

developed by the operator, and there are no established practical 

test standards that support a jurisdictional FAA FSDO evaluation 

and approval of company designated examiners, the petitioner will 

conduct these tests in accordance with the operator’s manual.

The UAS will not be operated directly over any person, except 

authorized and consenting production personnel, below an altitude 

that is hazardous to persons or property on the surface in the event 

of a UAS failure or emergency.

Regarding the distance from participating persons, the operator’s 

manual has safety mitigations for authorized and consenting 

production personnel. At all times, those persons must be essential 

to the closed-set film operations. Because these procedures are 

specific to participating persons, no further FSDO or Aviation 

Safety Inspector (“ASI”) approval is necessary for reductions to 

the distances specified in the petitioner’s manuals. This is 

consistent with the manned aircraft procedures described in FAA 

Order 8900.1, Volume 3, Chapter 8, Section 1 Issue a Certificate 

of Waiver for Motion Picture and Television Filming (the 

“Order”).

 In accordance with minimum safe distance of an operating 

aircraft, the Pilot in command (PIC) will ensure that no persons are 

allowed within 500 feet of the area except those consenting to be 

involved and necessary for the filming production. This provision 

may be reduced to no less than 200 feet if it would not adversely 

affect safety and the Administrator has approved it. For example, 

an equivalent level of safety may be determined by an aviation 

safety inspector’s evaluation of the filming production area to note 

terrain features, obstructions, buildings, safety barriers, etc. Such

barriers may protect non-participating persons (e.g. observers, the 
public, news media) from debris in the event of an accident. This is 

also consistent with the Order.

 If the UAS loses communications or loses its GPS signal, the 

UAS must return to a pre- determined location within the security 

perimeter and land or be recovered in accordance with the 

operator’s manual. The proposed UAS, the DJI Inspire 1, is 

designed to increase altitude 20 meters or 60 feet upon loss of 

signal between the ground controller held by the pilot and the 

aircraft itself. Upon reaching the higher altitude (a safety feature to 

avoid people, trees and buildings), the UAS will return to its 

original take-off point of origin and slowly land. It is critically 

important for the pilot to calibrate the aircraft prior to its flight. 

The calibration procedure sets the compass and lets the aircrafts 

onboard computer know where it is located on Earth. The UAS 

also has a Flytrex black box system installed which tracks every 

flight so if a loss of link to the aircraft from the controller ever 

occurs, then the pilot can follow and retrieve the UAS when it 

lands. Additional details concerning lost-link failsafes can be 

found in the Operator’s Manual.

The PIC will abort the flight in the event of unpredicted obstacles 

or emergencies in accordance with the operator’s manual.

Each UAS operation must be completed within 30 minutes flight 

time or with 30% battery power remaining, whichever occurs first.

The PIC will request a Notice to Airmen (“NOTAM”) not more 

than 72 and not less than 48 hours prior to the operation.

The operator will develop procedures to document and maintain a 

record of the UAS maintenance, preventative maintenance, 

alterations, status of replacement/overhaul component parts, and 

the total time in service of the UAS. These procedures will be 

added to the operator’s manual.

Each UAS operated under this exemption will comply with all 
manufacturer Safety Bulletins.

The operator must develop UAS technician qualification criteria. 

These criteria must be added to the operator’s manual.

The preflight inspection section in the operator’s manual must be 

amended to include the following requirement: The preflight 

inspection must account for all discrepancies, i.e. inoperable 

components, items, or equipment, not covered in the relevant 

preflight inspection sections of the operator’s manual.

Before conducting operations, the radio frequency spectrum used 

for operation and control of the UAS must comply with the Federal 

Communications Commission (“FCC”) or other appropriate 

government oversight agency requirements.

At least three days before scheduled filming, the operator of the 

UAS affected by this exemption must submit a written Plan of 

Activities to the local FSDO with jurisdiction over the area of 

proposed filming. The 3-day notification may be waived with the 

concurrence of the FSDO. The plan of activities must include at 

least the following:

a. Dates and times for all flights

b. Name and phone number of the operator for the UAS filming 

production conducted under this grant of exemption

c. Name and phone number of the person responsible for the onscene operation of the UAS d. Make, model, and serial or Nnumber of UAS to be usede. Name and certificate number of 

UAS PICs involved in the filming production event

f. A statement that the operator has obtained permission from 

property owners and/or local officials to conduct the filming 

production event; the list of those who gave permission must be 

made available to the inspector upon request.
g. Signature of exemption-holder or representative

The documents required under 14 CFR § 91.9 and § 91.203 will be 

available to the PIC at the ground control station of the UAS any 

time the aircraft is operating. These documents must be made 

available to the Administrator or any law enforcement official 

upon request.

The UAS will remain clear and yield the right of way to all other 

manned operations and activities at all times (including, but not 

limited to, Airplane, Rotorcraft, Glider, Lighter than air, powered 

Parachute, weight shifted control, etc.).

UAS operations will not be conducted during night, as defined in 

14 CFR § 1.1. All operations will be conducted under visual 

meteorological conditions (“VMC”). Flights under special visual 

flight rules (“SVFR”) are not authorized.

The UAS will not be operated by the PIC from any moving device 

or vehicle.

The UAS will not be operated less than 500 feet below or less than 

2,000 feet horizontally from a cloud or when visibility is less than 

3 statute miles from the PIC.

The UAS will not operate in Class B, C, or D airspace without 

written approval from the FAA. The UAS will not be operated

within 5 nautical miles of the geographic center of a non-towered 

airport as denoted on a current FAA-published aeronautical chart 

unless a letter of agreement with that airport’s management is 

obtained, and the operation is conducted in accordance with a 

NOTAM as required by the operator’s COA. The letter of 

agreement with the airport management must be made available to 

the Administrator upon request.

Any 1) incident, 2) accident, or 3) flight operation that transgresses 

the lateral or vertical boundaries of the operational area as defined 
by the applicable COA must be reported to the FAA UAS 

Integration Office (AFS-80) within 24 hours. Such accidents must 

be reported to the National Transportation Safety Board (“NTSB”) 

per instructions contained on the NTSB Web site: www.ntsb.gov. 

Further flight operations may not be conducted until the incident, 

accident, or transgression is reviewed by AFS-80 and authorization 

to resume operations is provided.

Unless otherwise specified in this grant of exemption, the UAS, 

PIC, and operator must comply with all applicable parts of 14 CFR 

including, but not limited to, parts 45, 47, 61, and 91.

The Federal Aviation Administration by and through its authorized 

representative is requested to approve this petition based on the 

above terms and conditions for a certificate of authority and 

certificate of exemption to operate within the above parameters for 

compensation or hire within the United States National Air Space.

Respectfully submitted: 

Christopher	L,	Lum

Owner- Operator

Birdseye	Cinema