Request for exemption under 14 CFR § 11.81

I am amending my original comment once again. I missed part of the required 

content when I originally petitioned for this exemption.

 I would like to be exempted from the 500ft. from object or persons rule. I 

will be flying a small 3dr solo quadcopter equipped with blade guards, 

backup return-to-home position parameters, and a level of experience and 

skill to safely fly said vehicle.

 I would like to fly over private property when given permission to capture 

photo and video data, thermal images, etc. I will not fly over other 

properties in order to get the images and data I need. I have a wide angle 

lens attached to the camera which will allow me to fly in close proximity

to whatever I need to capture. Others use normal angle lenses for a higher 

quality image, but this causes them to fly further away to get a good angle 

and may endanger aircraft or people.

 I do not plan to fly at night and do not need exempted from that rule at this 

time.

Some of the reasons my sUAS is safe

 It is less than 4lbs when equipped with camera and flying.

 It has GPS functionality which allows it to be very stable in flight.

 There is a backup to loss of radio connectivity where it will climb to 150ft. 

and return to the point of take off and descend slowly until it lands or 

regains signal. The 150ft. was chosen to clear obstacles such as trees or 

tall houses or other objects. This amount can be adjusted to any amount as 

I see fit in the case there was a higher object to clear.

 3D Robotics has a very low amount of crashes or fly-aways compared to 

other leading manufacturers. 

 The batteries are a “smart” battery that always lets me know the condition 

of. I also keep a log of charge cycles in order to calculate the health of the 

battery based of flight and charge times. This allows me to only fly with 

healthy batteries and not use excessive risk when flying due to a likely 

battery failure.

 It runs on dual lynux computers for redundancy. It also has separated the 

flight computer from the autopilot so that if there is a catastrophic failure 

with the flight computer, the autopilot will guide the multi-rotor back to 

the point of take off as described earlier.

Some of the reasons I will be a safe operator

 I have flown R/C planes, helicopters, and multi-rotors since 1999.

 My Academy of model aeronautics # is 8433. It has been shortened due to 

the fact that I am a contest director for R/C related events. I was chosen to 

do this for my experience, safe practices, and knowledge of the hobby.
 I have been trained by SkyOp to fly multi-rotors and instruct a class on 

them.

 I currently teach a class on sUAS. I know all the rules of being safe and 

use them on a daily basis in order to teach my students best practices.

 I always use a flight observer when flying, even if I’m not performing any 

kind of FPV flight.

 I have a safety check list that I follow each and every time I fly my multirotor.

 I will establish a flight plan if the exemption is granted for each of my 

flights. I will log each flight with gps data to a computer with a backup 

server. 

 I have a current medical.

Reasons why my services will benefit the public as a whole

 I am an advocate for this type of technology and through my safe 

practices, others will hopefully follow suit and take necessary classes or 

pursue proper training to improve their skills and lessen their chances of a 

catastrophe. 

 I hope that though my experience I will gain the necessary skills to 

perform tasks that were too difficult or impossible before for emergency

responders, law enforcement, etc. I fully plan to donate my time and skill 

to those institutions if I were ever asked. I have already been in 

communication with an Oklahoma City Major on the Firefighter force 

regarding training for their personnel when the legislature opens that 

possibility.

 I plan to eventually take thermal images of homes and buildings to help 

the owner become more efficient with their utility heating and cooling 

bills; this will impact the environment and community by lowering energy

use and the release of green house gases. 

Reasons why my exemption will be as safe as before exemption

 By making the rules so strict that I cannot do this, it will open up the 

possibility that others that are far less qualified and experienced will take 

to the skys and respond to the demand that is out there for this kind of 

footage currently.

 I have been in communication with several realtors regarding my future 

services and they say they are already receiving these types of jobs by

those that are not exempted and do not plan to, they are just skating 

through carefully and not getting caught. They have told me they would 

prefer to have me do it once I am exempted and legal. This would get 

some of the more dangerous operators out of the national airspace.

Brief summary publishable in the Federal Registry
I, Shane Snyder, want to be exempted from the rule stating no flight shall happen 

within 500ft. of an individual(s) or structure. I plan on using my 3DR Solo quadcopter to 

take video and still pictures for real estate use. I will use my multi-rotor in a safe manner 

as stated in the faa guidelines and rules. I will also exceed many of the rules. I never plan 

to exceed 200 ft agl. and will likely only regularly fly as high as 100ft. agl. I plan to do 

this commercially and will contact the tower and get permission when flying within 5 

miles of an airport. I understand airspace classifications and airspace regulation greatly. 

 Thanks for your time, I know this was a great long list to go along with my other 

comments.