March 11, 2016

U. S. Department of Transportation

Docket Management System

1200 New Jersey Ave., SE

Washington, DC 20590

Re: Exemption Request Section 333 of the FAA Reform Act and Part 11 of the Federal Aviation 

Regulations from 14 CFR Part 21; 14 C.F.R. 45.23(b); 61.113 (a) &(b); 91.7 (a); 91.9 (b) (2); 91.103(b); 

91.1090; 91.119; 91.121; 91.151(a); 91.203 (a) & (b); 91.405 (a); 91.407(a) (1); 91.409 (a) (2); 91.417 (a) 

& (b). 

Dear Sir or Madam:

Pursuant to Section 333 of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 (the Reform Act) and 

14 C.F.R. Part 11, Colorado Drone Services, LLC, an architecture, real estate and construction consulting 

company, hereby applies for an exemption from the listed Federal Aviation Regulations ("FARs") to allow 

commercial operation of its Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems ("sUAS"). These commercial services 

would consist of, but not limited to, initially operating a registered DJI Phantom 3 Professional and DJI 

Phantom 4 Quadcopter, (or at a later time, similar type and category of sUAS) to conduct aerial 

videography and photography of agriculture, real estate, construction sites, inspections, special events, 

aerial survey, inventory assessments, and for marketing and/or advertising, so long as such operations 

are conducted within and under the conditions outlined herein or as may be established by the FAA as 

required by Section 333, as well as all provisions contained in the FAA’s Small UAS NPRM (FAA’s 

proposed Part 107).

The requested exemption would permit the operation of sSUAS under controlled conditions in 

airspace that is 1) limited 2) predetermined 3) controlled as to access and 4) would provide safety 

enhancements to the already best practices safety protocols followed by Colorado Drone Services, LLC

at each construction site visited. Approval of this exemption would thereby enhance safety and fulfill the 

Secretary of Transportation's (the FAA Administrator's) responsibilities to " ... establish requirements for 

the safe operation of such aircraft systems in the national airspace system." Section 333(c) of the 

Reform Act.

The name and address of the applicant is: 

Michael Zagorski

Colorado Drone Services, LLC

19527 E. Bellisario Creek Drive

Parker, CO 80134

(720) 448-4085

mike@coloradodroneservices.com

Colorado Drone Services, LLC respectfully requests to be granted exemptions to the following specific 

sections of the Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations allowing operations of lightweight UAS for 

commercial purposes:
14 C.F.R. Part 21

14 C.F.R. 45.23(b) 

14 C.F.R. 61.113 (a) & (b)

14 C.F.R. 91.7 (a) 

14 C.F.R. 91.9 (b) (2) 

14 C.F.R. 91.103 (b)

14 C.F.R. 91.1090

14 C.F.R. 91.119 

14 C.F.R. 91.121 

14 C.F.R. 91.151 (a)

14 C.F.R. 91.203 (a) & (b)

14 C.F.R. 91.405 (a) 

14 C.F.R. 407 (a) (1) 

14 C.F.R. 409 (a) (2) 

14 C.F.R. 417 (a) & (b)

TYPE OF AIRCRAFT OPERATED BY COLORADO DRONE SERVICES, LLC

#1- DJI Phantom 3 Professional

Stock setup with DJI Tx

AUW 2.82 lbs.

#2- DJI Phantom 4

Stock setup with DJI Tx

AUW 3.04 lbs.

I. STATUTORY AUTHORITY FOR EXEMPTIONS

The Federal Aviation Act expressly grants the FAA authority to issue exemptions. This statutory 

authority includes exempting civil aircraft, as the term is defined under §40101 of the Act, including 

sUAS’s, from the requirement that all civil aircraft must have a current airworthiness certificate.

The Administrator may grant an exemption from a requirement of a regulation prescribed under 

subsection (a) or (b) of this section or any sections 44702-44716 of this title if the Administrator finds 

the exemption in the public interest. 49 U.S.C. §44701(f) See also 49 USC §44711(a); 49 USC §44704; 14 

CFR §91.203(a) (1).

Section 333(b) of the Reform Act assists the Secretary in determining whether sUAS may 

operate in the National Airspace System (NAS) without creating a hazard to the user, the public, or a 

threat to national security. If the Secretary determines that a sUAS "may operate safely in the national 

airspace system, the Secretary shall establish requirements for the safe operation of such aircraft in the 

national airspace system." Id. §333(c).

Colorado Drone Services, LLC's sUAS’s are multirotor vehicles, weighing 10 or fewer lbs. 

including payload. They operate under normal conditions at a speed of no more than 50 knots and have 

the capability to hover, and move in the vertical and horizontal plane simultaneously. The sUAS will 
operate only in the Pilot's visual line of sight at all times. Such operations will insure that the sUAS will 

"not create a hazard to users of the national airspace system or the public." Reform Act Section 333 (b).

Given the small size of the sUAS involved and the restricted and sterile environment within 

which they will operate, our application falls squarely within the zone of safety (an equivalent level of 

safety) in which Congress envisioned that the FAA must, by exemption, allow commercial operations of 

sUAS to commence immediately. Also due to the small size of the sUAS and the low altitudes and 

restricted areas in which the sUAS will operate, approval of the application presents no national security 

issue. 

Given the clear direction in Section 333 of the Reform Act, the authority contained in the 

Federal Aviation Act, as amended; the strong equivalent level of safety surrounding the proposed 

operations, and the significant public benefit, including enhanced safety, the grant of the requested 

exemptions is in the public interest. Accordingly, Colorado Drone Services, LLC respectfully requests that 

the FAA grant the requested exemption without delay. 

II. PUBLIC INTEREST

This exemption application is expressly submitted to fulfill Congress' goal in passing Section 

333(a) through (c) of the Reform Act. This law directs the Secretary of Transportation to consider 

whether certain unmanned aircraft systems may operate safely in the NAS before completion of the 

rulemaking required under Section 332 of the Reform Act. By granting an exemption the FAA will fulfill 

Congress's intent of allowing SUAS to operate with significant safety precautions in low risk 

environments.

The use of sUAS on a construction site can significantly reduce the risk to workers of falls while 

inspecting, surveying, or monitoring site progress. sUAS can inspect, photograph, and collect data on 

hard to get to areas that otherwise would require worker inspection. Falls are a leading source of 

workplace fatality and injury on construction sites, and reducing falls through sUAS use for site imaging 

could save workers lives.

Additionally, sUAS could replace the use of helicopters and small aircraft to monitor sites. The 

sUAS we propose to fly in this application are under five pounds, and carry no combustible material on 

board, as opposed to the much larger conventionally powered small aircraft. Shifting to sUAS from 

helicopters presents a marked safety increase for our workers and the public. 

Lastly, sUAS reduce the environmental impact by dramatically decreasing the energy used for 

aerial imaging and data collection over a construction site. Our sUAS use rechargeable lithium ion 

batteries, as opposed to fossil fuels burned in operation of small aircraft that are many hundreds of 

times heavier.

III. EQUIVALENT LEVEL OF SAFETY 

Colorado Drone Services, LLC proposes that the exemption requested herein apply to sUAS that 

have the characteristics and that operate with the limitations listed herein. These limitations provide for 

at least an equivalent or even higher level of safety to operations under the current regulatory structure 

because the proposed operations represent a safety enhancement to the already safe protocols 
followed on construction sites and imaging and surveying operations conducted with helicopters and 

other conventional aircraft. Colorado Drone Services, LLC will be bound by the following limitations 

when conducting its sUAS operations under an FAA issued exemption:

1. The sUAS will be less than 10 pounds.

2. Flights will be operated within visual line of sight of a pilot.

3. Maximum total flight time for each operational flight will be 23 minutes. The SUAS calculates battery 

reserve in real time, and will return to its ground station with at least 20% battery power reserve should 

that occur prior to the 23 minute limit.

4. Flights will normally be operated at an altitude of 200 feet AGL, never exceeding 400 feet AGL.

5. Any site within 5 miles of an airport will not be flown without notification and approval of the local 

FAA Flight Standards District Office (FSDO) and airport controller. 

6. Crew for each operation will consist of the sUAS Pilot who will keep the sUAS within his visual line of 

sight at all times.

7. The sUAS Pilot will be trained in flight, operations, and safety procedures.

9. A briefing will be conducted in regard to the planned sUAS operations prior to each day's production 

activities. It will be mandatory that all personnel who will be performing duties within the boundaries of 

the safety perimeter be present for this briefing.

10. All onsite personnel will consent to the sUAS flyover on site by waiver, and the operator will obtain 

additional verbal or written consent of all persons who will be allowed within 100 feet of the flight 

operation.

11. Pilot will have been trained in operation of sUAS’s generally and received up-to-date information on 

the particular sUAS’s to be operated as required.

12. Written and/or oral permission from the relevant property holders will be obtained.

13. All required permissions and permits will be obtained from territorial, state, county or city 

jurisdictions, including local law enforcement, fire, or other appropriate governmental agencies.

14. If the sUAS loses communications or loses its GPS signal, it will have capability to enter "loiter mode" 

and hover, reestablish satellite connection, and return to a predetermined location within the Security 

Perimeter and land.

15. Any sUAS to be used by Colorado Drone Services, LLC will comply with any registration requirements 

of the FAA. 

16. The sUAS will be marked with contact information and registration number.

17. All flights will be electronically recorded and made available to the FAA upon request.

IV. OPERATOR CERTIFICATION AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Colorado Drone Services, LLC’s Chief UAS Operator will be an FAA certified Pilot. Colorado Drone 

Services, LLC owner Mr. Michael Zagorski is current pursuing his Sport Pilots License with the intent of 

being the primary PIC for Colorado Drone Services, LLC sUAS operations. Any commercial work 

performed prior to Mr. Michael Zagorski obtaining a pilots license and after this petition is approved, 

will be performed by an alternate FAA licensed pilot.

VI. DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC REGULATIONS

14 CFR 61.113 (a) &(b): Private pilot privileges and limitations: Pilot in command
Sections 61.113 (a) &(b) limit private pilots to non-commercial operations. Because the sUAS will 

not carry a pilot or passengers, the proposed operations can achieve the equivalent level of safety of 

current operations by requiring the Pilot operating the aircraft to have (1) completed a sUAS flight 

training course of 100 hours before flying a sUAS and (2) a Sport Pilot certificate. The FAA has previously 

acknowledged in prior grants of exemption under Section 333 that a commercial pilot's certificate was 

not necessary to operate a sUAS, but that the FAA could not waive the requirement for an FAA-issued 

pilot's license. A Sport Pilot certificate addresses the FAA's requirement that the Pilot in command have 

the requisite training and understanding of the National Airspace System, and also ensures that the Pilot 

is registered with the FAA and will not pose a risk to national security. The Sport Pilot certificate also 

does not require the Pilot to undertake the additional cost and time of additional manned aviation flight 

time that the Private Pilot's license requires and which will not translate to skill or competency 

operating the sUAS.

The sUAS to be operated hereunder is less than 10 lbs. fully loaded, carries neither a pilot nor 

passenger, carries no explosive materials or flammable liquid fuels. Like other civil aircraft, operations 

under this exemption will be tightly controlled and monitored by the operator, and under the 

requirements and in compliance with local public safety requirements, to provide security for the area 

of operation as is currently done on active construction sites. The FAA will have advance notice of all 

operations. 

The risks associated with the operation of the sUAS are therefore diminished from the level of 

risk associated with commercial operations contemplated by Part 61 when drafted, and allowing 

operations of the sUAS as requested with a Pilot who has met the minimum requirements stated in 

Section F of the Manual achieves the level of safety contemplated by 14 C.F.R. §61.113 (a) & (b).

14 C.F.R. 91.103: Preflight Action

This regulation requires each pilot in command take certain actions before flight to ensure the 

safety of flight. An exemption is needed from this requirement as the Pilot will take separate preflight 

actions, including checking for weather conditions, checking flight battery requirements, checking 

takeoff and landing distances. These actions will provide an equivalent level of safety. 

14 C.F. R. 91.119: Minimum Safe Altitudes

Section 91.119 establishes safe altitudes for operation of civil aircraft. Section 91.119 (d) allows 

helicopters to be operated at less than the minimums prescribed, provided the person operating the 

helicopter complies with any route or altitudes prescribed for helicopters by the FAA. This exemption is 

for a multirotor craft that flies similarly to a helicopter, with vertical take off and vertical landing, which 

will typically operate at altitudes of 200 AGL, so an exemption may be needed to allow such operations. 

The sUAS will never operate at altitude higher than 400 AGL and will be in a restricted area with security 

perimeter, where buildings and people will not be exposed to operations without their pre-obtained 

consent. The equivalent level of safety will be achieved given the size, weight, speed of the sUAS as well 

as the location where it is operated. No flight will be taken without the permission of the property 

owner or local officials. Because of the advance notice to the property owner and any onsite personnel, 

all affected individuals will be aware of the planned flight operations. Unlike flight operations with 

aircraft or rotorcraft weighing far more than the maximum 10 lbs. proposed herein, our sUAS will not 
carry flammable fuel. In addition, the low-altitude operations of the sUAS will ensure separation 

between sUAS operations and the operations of conventional aircraft that must comply with Section 

91.119.

14 C.F.R. 91.121: Altimeter Settings

This regulation requires each person operating an aircraft to maintain cruising altitude by 

reference to an altimeter that is set "...to the elevation of the departure airport or an appropriate 

altimeter setting available before departure." As the sUAS may not have a barometric altimeter, but 

instead a GPS altitude read out, an exemption may be needed. An equivalent level of safety will be 

achieved by the operator, confirming the altitude of the launch site shown on the GPS altitude indicator 

before flight. 14 CFR 91.151 (a): Fuel requirements for flight in VFR conditions Section 91.151 (a) 

outlines fuel requirements for beginning a flight in VFR conditions. Our sUAS is limited to operations in 

sterile and controlled environments as outlined in the Manual, and has a limited range and flight time 

which require an exemption from 14.

CFR 91.151(a).

The battery powering the sUAS provides approximately 23 minutes of powered flight. To meet 

the 23 minute reserve requirement in 14 CFR §91.151, sUAS flights would be limited to approximately 5 

minutes in length. Given the limitations on the sUAS's proposed flight area and the location of its 

proposed operations within a predetermined area, a longer time frame for flight in daylight or night VFR 

conditions is reasonable.

Colorado Drone Services, LLC believes that an exemption from 14 CFR §91.151(a) falls within the 

scope of prior exemptions. See Exemption 10673 (allowing Lockheed Martin Corporation to operate 

without compliance with FAR 91.151 (a)). Operating the small sUAS, in a tightly controlled area where 

only people and property owners or official representatives who have signed waivers will be allowed, 

with less than 30 minutes of reserve fuel, does not engender the type of risks that Section 91.151(a) was 

intended to alleviate given the size and speed of the small SUAS. Additionally, limiting sUAS flights to 10 

minutes would greatly reduce the utility for which the exemption will be granted.

An equivalent level of safety can be achieved by limiting flights to 23 minutes, or enough battery 

reserve to ensure that the sUAS lands at the ground station with at least 20% of battery power (as 

determined by the onboard monitoring system and the Pilot), whichever happens first. This restriction 

would be more than adequate to return the sUAS to its planned landing zone from anywhere in its 

limited operating area. Similar exemptions have been granted to other operations, including 

Exemptions 2689F 5745, 10673, and 10808.

14 CFR 91.405 (a); 407 (a)(1); 409 (a)(2); 417 (a) &(b): Maintenance inspections

These regulations require that an aircraft operator or owner "shall have that aircraft inspected 

as prescribed in subpart E of this part and shall between required inspections, except as provided in 

paragraph (c) of this section, have discrepancies repaired as prescribed in part 43 of this chapter...," and 

others shall inspect or maintain the aircraft in compliance with Part 43.
Given that these sections and Part 43 apply only to aircraft with an airworthiness certificate, 

these sections will not apply to Colorado Drone Services, LLC. Maintenance will be accomplished by the 

operator pursuant to the flight manual and operating handbook. An equivalent level of safety will be 

achieved because these small sUAS are very limited in size and will carry a small payload and operate 

only in restricted areas for limited periods of time. If mechanical issues arise the sUAS can land 

immediately and will be operating from no higher than 400 feet AGL. The Pilot will ensure that the sUAS

is in working order prior to initiating flight, perform required maintenance, and keep a log of any 

maintenance performed. Moreover, the Pilot is the person most familiar with the aircraft and best 

suited to maintain the aircraft in an airworthy condition to provide the equivalent level of safety.

Pursuant to 14 C.F.R. Part 11, the following summary is provided for publication in the Federal 

Register, should it be determined that publication is needed:

Applicant seeks an exemption from the following rules: 14 C.F.R. §21, subpart H; 14 C.F.R 

45.23(b);14 C.F.R. §§ 61.113( a) &(b);91.7 (a); 91.9 (b) (2);91.103(b);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); 91.409 (a) (2) and 91.417 (a) & (b) 

to operate commercially a small unmanned vehicle (551bs or less) primarily in construction related 

operations.

Approval of exemptions allowing commercial operations of sUAS in the construction industry 

enhances safety while reducing risk. Manned aircraft monitoring and surveying creates a greater risk 

because the craft are much larger, have combustible fuel, and carry an onboard human pilot. In 

contrast, a sUAS weighing fewer than 10 lbs. and powered by batteries eliminates virtually all of that risk 

given the reduced mass and lack of combustible fuel carried on board. The sUAS will carry no passengers 

or crew and, therefore, will not expose them to the risks associated with manned aircraft flights.

The operation of small sUAS, weighing less than 10 lbs., conducted in the strict conditions 

outlined above, will provide an equivalent level of safety supporting the grant of the exemptions 

requested herein, including exempting the applicant from the requirements of Part 21 and allowing 

commercial operations. These lightweight aircraft operate at slow speeds, close to the ground, and in a 

sterile environment and, as a result, are far safer than conventional operations conducted with turbine 

helicopters operating in close proximity to the ground and people.

Privacy

All flights will occur over private or controlled access property with the property owner's prior 

consent and knowledge. Images taken will be of individuals who have also consented to being filmed or 

otherwise have agreed to be in the area where aerial photography will take place.

Satisfaction of the criteria provided in Section 333 of the Reform Act of 2012--size, weight, 

speed, operating capabilities, controlled operating environment and operation within visual line of sight 

and national security — provide more than adequate justification for the grant of the requested 

exemptions allowing commercial operation of applicant's sUAS in construction industry pursuant to the 

Manual appended hereto.

Sincerely,
Michael Zagorski, AIA, PMP

Colorado Drone Services, LLC