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U.S. Department of Transportation Docket Management System 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE Washington, DC 20590 Exemption Request Section 333 of the FAA Reform Act To Whom It May Concern , In accordance with Section 333 of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 and 14 C.F.R. Part 11, Montana Aerial Solutions, a licensed business in the State of Montana, hereby applies for exemptions from the following Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs ) in order to operate a Small Unmanned Aircraft System (sUAS) for commercial applications in airspace that is governed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). All flight operations will be conducted under the conditions and boundaries outlined herein or as established by the FAA in accordance with Section 333. The exemption s , as requested by Montana Aerial Solu tions, would permit the provision of commercial services to customers that are in need of aerial data capture from a sUAS . Montana Aerial Solutions requests these exemptions in order to perform commercial flights in the following areas:

 Surveying
 Agriculture
 Aerial Inspection
 Real Estate Photography
 General Photography
 Special Events All flights will be conducted over private or controlled access property with the consent and knowledge of the property owner or controlling party . All flight operations will maintain a 500 foot buffer from all nonparticipating persons, vessels, vehicles, and structures unless sufficient barriers are in place to prote ct nonparticipating persons from undue harm. F light operations will also only be operated near vessels, vehicles, and structures where the prop erty owner/controller has granted permission and a safety assessment has been made. All of Montana Aerial Solutions’ flight operations will be conducted by pilots that are holding current FAA Private or Commercial Licenses with appropriate medical certi ficates. All visual observers (VO) will be trained to perform their required duties before flight operations begin.Regulations from which an exemption is requested:

14 CFR 61. 113(a) 14 CFR 91.7(a) 14 CFR 91.119(c) 14 CFR 91.121 14 CFR 91.151(a) 14 CF R Subpart E (91.401

– 91.417)



## THE UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEM Due to the low cost of operation, increased safety to surrounding persons and property, reduced noise and environmental impact, and the versatility of the sUAS platform, we believe that a sUAS can be a great solution to consumers who would, otherwise, have to hire a larger aircraft, such as a helicopter, in order to capture the data that they need. Montana Aerial Solutions is seeking this exemption in order to operate a 3DR IRIS+ quadcopter equipped with the 3DR Pixhawk controller board, a two
- axis Tarot T

- 2D Brushless Gimbal and a GoPro camera. 3DRobotic’s APM software will be the ground station operating system. S afety failsafe features equipped ensuring safe operations include :  G eo - fence capability that will limit the height and horizontal distance that the IRIS can fly from the operator.
 RTL mode

- In the case of low battery or lost communication between the IRIS and the operator, the IRIS will return to the point of takeoff and land itself. This mode can be manually turned on by the operator at any point in the flight.
 Land mode

- Loss of GPS signal will engage land mode. T he IRIS will land automatically at its current position if in a flight mode that requires GPS signal.
 Telemetry radio communication provides real time feedback of flight data, including current altitude, attitude, altitude change rate, and GPS coordinates. Aforementioned safety feat ures have undergone rigorous testing procedures by 3DRoboti cs as well as Montana Aerial Soluti ons. L ogs and descriptions of each safety test flight performed by Montana Aerial Solutions are available upon request. These s afety features combined with the PIC’s knowledge obtained during flight training will successfully mitigate operation safety risks. Montana Aerial solutions is in development of future aircraft that will be using the Pixhawk controller, enabling use of aforementioned safety features in all future aircraft utilized by Montana Aerial Solutio ns. 

## FLIGHT OPERATIONS The operator and PIC will guarantee that operations adhere to strict standards as set below:
 Prior to their first operation, all PICs employed by Montana Aerial Solutions will complete a sUAS education and training program that highlights critical areas including applicable regulations and documents, charts, NOTAMS and Advisory Circulars, Radio Communications Procedures, Human Factors and Crew Resource Management, Basic Small UAS Aerodynamics, Weather Factors, Airmanship and Decision

- making, and Safe Operating Procedures.
 The PIC must show that they are able to safely operate the UAS in a safe manner before proceeding with operations.
 The UA will be operated at airspeeds below 29 knots.
 The UA will be operated below 400 feet above ground level (AGL) at all times.
 The UA will be operated within visual line of sight (VLOS) at all times. All operations will utilize a visual observer (VO). The UA will be operated within the visual line

of sight (VLOS) of the PIC and VO at all times.
 The VO will not perform any other duties beyond assisting the PIC with seeing and avoiding traffic and other ground based obstacles.
 Proper preflight inspections will take place before each flight.
 The UA may not operate within 5 nautical miles of an airpor t reference point unless a letter of agreement with that airport’s management is obtained.
 Operations will be conducted in accordance with a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM).
 The UA may 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 PIC must maintain a battery reserve that allows the UA to return to point of landing at normal cruise speed and land with 30% battery power.
 The UA must remain clear of and yield to all other air traffic.
 Flight operations will remain 500 feet from all nonparticipating persons, vehicles, and structures unless: a. Barriers or structures are pre sent that sufficiently protect nonparticipating persons

from debris in the event of an accident. b. All participating persons will be made aware of the dangers of flying a UA and the safety precautions and features that are in place. c. The aircraft is operated near vessel, vehicles, or structures where the property owner/controller has granted permission and the PIC has made a safety assessment in regard to the close operation to these objects. d. Operations near the PIC or VO do not present an undue hazard to the PIC or VO per 91.119(a).
 All operations will be conducted over private or controlled

- acce s s property with prior permission from the property owner/controller or authorized representative. Montana Aerial Solutions is confident th at the knowledge of the PIC , along with the strict safety standards set by Montana Aerial Solutions, the FAA, and the physical safety properties of the s UAS , will allow safe and efficient operations. Montana Aerial Solutions hereby requests exemption under Section 333 in order to pursue commercial sUAV applications with the intent to provide customers with the safest, highest quality platform available. Sincerely ,

Jeff Weber Greg Koch Montana Aerial Solutions 5813, Kit Lane South Billings, Montana, 59106EXEMPTION REQUESTS AND EQUIVALENT LEVEL OF SAFETY

Montana Aerial Solutions request s an exemption from the following regulations as well as any additional regulations found by the FAA to be necessary for s afe and efficient UAS flight operations. **14 CFR 61.113(a), Private pilot privileges and limitations: Pilot in command**  This regulation states that no person holding a private pilot certificate may act as pilot in command of an aircraft that is carrying pas sengers or property for compensation or hire; nor may that person, for compensation or hire, act as pilot in command of an aircraft. We believe that a PIC with a private pilot license has sufficient skill and knowledge to complete operations , especially after completing a sUAS knowledge and training course. We do not think that a commercial pilot license will significantly improve a PIC’s performance while operating a UAV. Therefore, we ask for an exemption from 14 CFR 61.113(a) in order to operate commercially with the minimum of a private pilot license. **14 CFR 91.7(a) Civil aircraft airworthiness** As a UAS will not require an airworthiness certificate, we believe that this regulation is not applicable. Therefore, we request exemption from this regulation. **14 CFR 91.119(c) Minimum safe altitudes** This regulation states that no person may operate an aircraft below 500 feet above the surface as well as within 500 feet of any person, vessel, vehicle, or structure. We believe that, because of the nature of most UAS operations, an exemption is required in order to allow operation closer than 500 feet to vessels, vehicles, or structures as long as permission is granted from the owning/controlling parties and an assessment is made to assure that peopl e and property are safe from undue harm. We also request that operations be allowed over congested areas as long as the operations stay within the following standards:
 Flight operations will remain 500 feet from all nonparticipating persons, vehicles, and structures unless: a. Barriers or structures are present that sufficiently protect nonparticipating persons from debris in the event of an accident. b. Participating persons are made aware of the dangers of the UAS operation and the safety precautions that have been put into place. c. The aircraft is operated near vessel, vehicles, or structures only where the property owner/controller has granted permission and the PIC has made a safety assessment in regard to the close operation to these objects. d. Operations near the PIC or VO do not present an undue hazard to the PIC or VO per 91.119(a). e. All operations will be conducted over private or controlled

- access property with prior permission from the property owner/controller or authorized representative. **14 CFR 91.121 Altimeter settings**  As our UAS does not utilize a standard barometric altimeter, we request exemption from 91.121 to the extent necessary to comply with applicable conditions and limitations. The altimeter reading for our UAS is calculated by GPS. The ac curate and continuous readings that we receive from this GPS system allow us to operate our drone below set minimums at all times.**14 CFR 91.151(a) Fuel requirements for flight in VFR conditions** 

This regulation states that no person may begin a flight in an airplane under day

-VFR conditions unless there is enough fuel to fly to the first point of intended landing and, after that, fly for an additional 30 minutes. This regulation is intended to create a safe flying environment by creating sufficient fue l reserves. Therefore, we do not request an exemption from this regulation but, instead, request that the term “fuel” be changed to “battery power.” We also request that our battery power reserve for our UAS operations be 30%. Our UAS has capabilities that allow the PIC to monitor battery power levels as well as a return to land feature that will engage when battery levels reach a critical level, therefore returning the UAS automatically to the point of takeoff. **14 CFR Subpart E (91.401**

**– 91.417)**  Montana Aerial Solutions requests an exemption from the stringent maintenance regulations that are designed to increase the safety of the flying environment by ensuring adequate inspections and servicing of aircraft. We are requesting exemption from these regulations because we believe that, due to the simplicity and the ease of repair, general and preventive maintenance can be performed by the PIC. The PI C is required to make a thorough preflight inspection before each operation. In the case of a discovery of faulty equipment, most replacement and rep air can simply be done on site as long as repairs are of an airworthy manner. Major repair will still have to be performed by a licensed repair facility which will be logged in the UAS records. We believ e that our comprehensive preflight inspection, the simplicity of the UAS itself, the nature of the UAS’s operations, and the fact that no passengers are on board the aircraft make our operations eligible for exemption from CFR Subpart E (91.401

– 91.417).