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NOVELLI, HARVIE & ASSOCIATES,

Attorneys at Law, P.L.L.C.

12600 North Featherwood, Suite 120

Houston, Texas 77034

Tel. (281) 484-9500

Fax (281) 484-9519

www.nhapllc.com

F.B. Harvie, Jr. 

(Attorney) bharvie@nhapllc.com

January 12, 2015

United States Department of Transportation

Docket Management System

1200 New Jersey Ave., SE

Washington, D.C. 20590

Attn: Bill Crozier, Assistant Manager, UAS Integration Office, AFS-80

Re: 

Dear Mr. Crozier:

1. Applicant’s name, address and contact number are:

D&C Inspection Services, Inc.

2215 Repsdorph Rd., Seabrook, Texas 77586

Attn: Daniel Harry

Email: dan@dcinspection.com

Phone No.: (281) 326-1800

2. Applicant’s agent:

F.B. (Ben) Harvie, Jr., Attorney At Law

12600 N. Featherwood, Suite 120, Houston, Texas 77034

Email: bharvie@nhapllc.com

Phone No.: (281) 484-9500

3. Purpose for Request:

To secure an exemption to operate a sUAS under controlled 

conditions in defined airspace which would provide an enhanced 

level of safety to the successful operation of Applicant’s business 

which includes, but is not limited to, inspection of industrial 

complexes, transportation facilities and other structural entities that 

are subject to and in need of periodic or routine safety inspections 

by persons authorized either by regulation or by industry standard 

1) Applicant: D&C Inspection Services, Inc.

2) Request for exemption Under Section 333 of the FAA Modernization 

and Reform Act of 2012 (Reform Act)
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to determine the condition of the objects being inspected and to 

assure and establish a level of safe use and operations for which the 

inspected items are intended.

4. Regulation:

The exemptions requested and/or required are from 14 CFR and are 

as follows:

Part 21

45.23(b)

61.113 (a) & (b)

91.7 (a)

91.9 (b) (2)

91.103

91.109

91.119

91.121

91.151 (a)

91.203 (a) & (b)

91.405 (a)

407 (a) (1)

409 (a) (2)

417 (a) & (b); and

Any other provisions out of Title 14, Code of Federal 

Regulations, that may be applicable to Applicant’s specific 

use and not listed above. 

5. Public Interest:

Enhancement of Industry Safety. 

The exemption requested is in the public interest because the 

intended purpose of the operation of sUAS will enhance the safety 

of the inspection process presently utilized by Applicant which may 

have required, from time-to-time, inspectors to be on scaffold

structures or other dangerous environments, or other hazardous 

conditions, in order to perform the inspections which are necessary 

and required to comply with industry standards or governmental 

regulations.

Development of Firefighting Techniques

The public interest would also be enhanced because 

Applicant intends to develop a heat-sensing device for use by

firefighting agencies that would detect dangerous hotspots, thereby 

reducing the hazardous work environment of firefighters and 

enhancing their rescue operations. 
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Protection of Privacy

Applicant has adopted a privacy policy that requires the 

operator to assure that no information or data of persons not engaged 

in the intended operation is collected, used, or disseminated so as to 

achieve the public’s expectation of privacy. 

6. Previous exemptions:

The FAA has previously granted exemptions under Section 333 for 

similar operations in Exemption Nos.:

1. 11063

2. 11064

3. 11065

4. 11066

5. 11067

6. 11080

7. Conditions and limitations:

A. Applicant proposes to adopt:

1. A Pilot Operating Handbook (POH) and/or

2. Flight Operations and Procedures Manual (FOPM) 

3. Manufacturers Pilot Training Guide (MPTG)

4. UAV Check-List

B. Applicant proposes the following conditions and/or limitations:

1. UA must weigh less than 55 pounds;

2. UA airspeed not to exceed 50 knots;

3. UA flights may not operate at more than 400 AGL and 

Altitudes reported to ATC must be in feet AGL;

4. UA must be operated within visual line of sight (VLOS) of 

the PIC;

5. All operations will utilize a visual observer (VO). The VO

may be utilized as long as the PIC maintains VLOS 

capability and can communicate with the VO at all times;

6. The conditions and limitations will be added or amended in 

the operator’s manual;

7. The PIC will inspect the UAS to ensure it is safe for flight, 

along with the Ground Control Station (GCS) if utilized. All 

maintenance and alterations must be properly documented.

8. A functional test flight must be performed for any UAS that 

has undergone maintenance or alterations and be performed 

by the PIC and added to the operator’s manual;

9. The operator must follows the manufacturer’s UAS 

aircraft/component, maintenance, overhaul, replacement 

inspection and life limit requirements. The following must 
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be included in the operator’s manual;

A. Actuators / Servos;

B. Transmission (single rotor);

C. Power plant (motors);

D. Propellers;

E. Electronic speed controller;

F. Batteries;

G. Mechanical or dynamic components (single 

rotor);

H. Remote command and control;

I. Ground control station (if used); and

J. Any other component(s) as determined by the 

operator.

10. The PIC must possess a private pilot certificate, a current 

third-class medical certificate and meet the flight review 

requirements specified in 14 CFR § 61.56;

11. A PIC must have accumulated and logged, in a manner 

consistent with 14 CFR § 61.51 (b), a minimum of 200 flight 

hours and 25 hours as a UAS rotorcraft pilot and at least ten 

hours logged as a UAS pilot with a similar UAS type;

12. A 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 takeoffs and three landings in the preceding 90 days. The PIC 

must operate the UA with appropriate distance from nonparticipants in accordance with 14 CFR § 91.119;

13. The PIC and VO must have completed a qualification 

process;

14. A flight demonstration, administered by an operatorapproved and -qualified pilot must be completed and 

documented in accordance with the operator’s manual;

15. The UA may not be operated directly over any person, 

except authorized and consenting inspection personnel, 

below an altitude that is hazardous to persons or property;

16. All participating persons must be essential and consent to the 

UAV operation which should require no further FSDO or 

ASI approval;

17. The operator must ensure that no persons are allowed within 

500 feet of the area except those consenting to be involved 

and who are necessary for the on-going operation of the 

entity being inspected;

18. If the UAS loses communications or loses its Global 

Positioning System (GPS) signal, the UA must return to a 
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pre-determined location within the security perimeter and 

land or be recovered in accordance with the operator’s 

manual;

19. The UAS must abort the flight in the event of unpredicted 

obstacles or emergencies in accordance with the operator’s 

manual;

20. Each operation must be completed within 30 minutes flight 

time or with 25% battery power remaining, whichever 

occurs first;

21. The operator must contain an Air Traffic Organization 

(ATO) issued Certificate of Waiver or Authorization (COA) 

prior to conducting any operations under this grant of 

exemption. This COA will also require the operator to 

request a Notice to Airman (NOTAM) not more than 72 

hours in advance, but no less than 48 hours prior to the 

operation; 

22. All aircraft operated in accordance with this exemption must 

be identified by serial number, registered in accordance with 

14 CFR part 47and have identification (N-Number) 

markings in accordance with 14 CFR part 45, Subpart C. 

Markings must be as large as possible;

23. The operator must develop procedures to document and 

maintain a record of the UAS maintenance, alterations, 

status of replacement/overhaul component parts, and the 

total time in service of the UAS.

24. Each UAS operated under this exemption will comply with 

all manufacturing safety bulletins; 

25. The operator will develop UAS technician qualification 

criteria. And the criteria will be in the operator’s manuel;

26. The pre-flight inspections section of the operator’s manual 

will include the requirement that the pre-flight inspection 

will account for all discrepancies, i.e. inoperable 

components, items, or equipment; 

27. Before conducting operations, the radio frequency spectrum 

used for operation and control of the UA will comply with 

the FCC or other appropriate government oversight agency 

requirements;

28. At least three days before a scheduled inspection the 

operator of the UAS affected by this exemption will submit 

a written plan of activity to the local FSDO with jurisdiction 

over the area of the proposed inspection. The 3-day 

notification may be waived with the concurrence of the 

FSDO. The plan of activities will include the following:

A. Dates and times for all flights 
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B. Name and phone number of the operator for the UAS 

inspection conducted under this grant of exemption 

C. Name and phone number of the person responsible 

for the on-site operation of the UAS 

D. Make, model, and serial or N-number of UAS to be 

used

E. Name and certificate number of UAS PIC s involved 

in the inspection process 

F. A statement that the operator has obtained 

permission from property owners and/or local 

officials to conduct the inspection; the list of those 

who gave permission shall be made available to the 

inspector upon request

G. Signature of exemption-holder or representative 

H. The description of the flight activity, including maps 

or diagrams of any area, city, town, county, and/or 

state over which the inspection will be conducted and 

the altitudes essential to accomplish the operation.

29. The documents required under 14 CFR §§91.9 and 91.203 

must 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; 

30. The UA must remain clear and yield the right of way to all 

other manned operations and activities at all times (including, 

but not limited to ultra-light vehicles, parachute activities, 

parasailing activities, hand gliding, etc.);

31. UAS operations may not be conducted during night, as 

defined in 14 CFR § 1.1 All operations must be conducted 

under visual meteorological conditions (VMC). Flights under 

special visual flight rules (SVFR) are not authorized;

32. The UAS cannot be operated by the PIC from any moving 

device or vehicle;

33. The UA may not be operated less than 500 feet below or less 

than 2000 feet horizontally from a cloud or when visibility is 

less than 3 statute miles from the PIC;

34. The UA may not be operated in class B, C, or D airspace 

without written approval from the FAA. The UA may not 

operate 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 the 

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 ava ilable to the administrator 

upon request. 

35. Any I) Incident, 2) Acc ident, 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 Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) 

UAS Integration Office (AFS-80) within 24 hour. Accidents 

must be reported to the National Transportation Safety Board 

(NTSB) per instruction contained on the NTSB '.-veb site: 

www. ntsb.gov. Further fl ight operations may not be 

conducted unti I the incident, accident, or transgression is 

reviewed by the A FS-80 and authorized to resume operations 

is provided. 

36. The UAS, PIC and operator will comply with all applicable 

parts of 14 CFR including, but not limited to, parts 

45,47,6 1.9 1. 

The criteria proposed in this application are believed to have previously been reviewed and 

approved with prior exemptions and given the public need for the inspections mandated by 

regulation or suggested by industry standards provides the assurance sought by the Federal Aviation 

Act of 1958 and the FAA modernization and reform act of 20 12 to ensure the safe operations 

anticipated in this request of the aircraft in the national airspace system. 

Your review and reply are greatly appreciated. My office is adjacent to the FSDO offi ce 

on Featherwood in Houston, Texas and would faci litate our in person communication should it be 

necessary. 

Very Truly Yours, 

NOVELLI, HARV IE & A. 

Attorneys at law, PLLC 

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