Page | **1** Terrafugia Inc.
23 Rainin Road Woburn, MA 01801 T: +1

- 781

- 491

- 0812 F: +1

- 781

- 491

- 0282 www.terrafugia.com

May 4 , 2016

US Department of Transportation Docket Management System West Building Ground Floor, Room W12

- 140 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE Washington, DC 20590

Re: Amendment to Exemption Number 13492 Pursuant to Section 333 of the FAA Reform Act and Part 11 of the Federal Aviation Regulations; Regulatory Docket No. FAA

- 2015

- 1382

Dear Sir or Madam:

Terrafugia, an operator of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) for research and development, hereby applies for an ame ndment to the referenced Section 333 exemption that the FAA granted on October 22, 2015

, allowing comme rcial operations of Terrafugia’s sUAS.

The requested amendment clarifies flight operations under paragraph 8 of the FAA’s grant of exemption dealing with functional test flight operations , and it aligns paragraphs 18 and 20 with the developmental nature a nd capabilities of Terrafugia’s sUAS . The requested amendments and rationale are discussed in Appendix A. These amendments do not change the intent or the equivalent level of safety provided by the original exemption letter. These clarifications preserv e the FAA’s rationale for finding that the grant of exemption is in the public interest as stated on page 2 of the referenced grant of exemption . That is :

“ ...enhanced safety using an unmanned aircraft (UA)...carrying no passengers or crew, rather than a manned aircraft of significantly greater proportions, carrying crew in addition to flammable fuel, gives the FAA good cause to find that the UAS operation enabled by this exemption is in the public interest.”

The name and address of the applicant are:

Terrafugia, Inc

. Attn: Kevin Colburn 23 Rainin Road Woburn, MA 01801 Ph: 781

- 491

- 0812 Email: kcolburn@terrafugia.comPage | **2** If any additional i nformation is needed, please contact me at 781

- 491

- 0812 or kcolburn@terrafugia.com

. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Kevin Colburn Chief Operating Officer Terrafugia, Inc. 23 Rainin Roa d Woburn, MA 01801Page | **3** 

# A PPENDIX 

# A

B ACKGROUND The grant of exemption assumes an sUAS vehicle that is fully developed and allows for functional test flights under paragraph 8. Since the Terrafugia TF

- X TM sUAS is in development, Terrafugia is requesting expanded language under paragraph 8 to more clearly cover developmental test flights. At a minimum, t h ese test flights will be developing the capabilities addressed in paragraphs 18 and 20. Terrafugia is reques ting Equivalent Level of Safety amendments to those paragraphs to facilitate develop ment

. Terrafugia believes that these changes are within the spirit of the functional test flights allowed by paragraph 8 of the grant of exemption and requests the followin g amended language to make the spirit more explicit.



## P ARAGRAPH 

## 8

R EQUIREMENT AS WRITTE N 8. Any UAS that has undergone maintenance or alterations that affect the UAS operation or flight characteristics, e.g., replacement of a flight critical component, must undergo a functional test flight prior to conducting further operations under this exemption. Functional test flights may only be conducted by a PIC with a VO and must remain at least 500 feet from other people. The functional test flight must be c onducted in such a manner so as to not pose an undue hazard to person and property.”



### R EQUESTED AMENDED LAN GUAGE 8. Functional flight tests must be conducted for any UAS that has undergone maintenance or alterations that affect the UAS operation or flight characteristics, e.g., replacement of a flight critical component, prior to conducting further operations under this exemption. Developmental flight tests may be conducted by the manufacturer to facilitate the development and incorporation of new or modif ied systems and/or capabilities into the UAS. Functional and developmental flight tests may only be conducted by the minimum essential personnel as specified in an accompanying test plan and must remain at least 500 feet from other people . Due the nature of functional and developmental test flights , it may not be possible or practical for all of the provisions of this exemption to be met

. As necessary for a given paragraph, the manufacturer may inclu de alternative provisions in a functional or developmen tal flight test plan that maintain s an equivalent level of safety for these test flight s.



### R ATIONALE The amendment expands paragraph 8 to cover both functional and development test flights. The original paragraph 8 requires that these flights may only be c onducted by a PIC and VO. The amended language requests a change to “minimum essential personnel.” Because of the sequence of testing, functional and developmental test flight operations require other essential personnel in addition to the PIC and VO

. The se test flights will evaluate basic flight characteristics of vertical flight and transition to horizontal flight. Collecting data from the vehicle may require techniciansPage | **4** within 500 feet. M anipulation of the flight controls for specific test events during functional test flights will at times be accomplished by high ly skilled engineers (experienced radio control aircr aft operators ) via a “buddy

- box” control set up with the PIC in overall control. The PIC will always have the ability to assu me control and e nsure that the requirements of the COA will not be violated. These procedures provide an equivalent level of safety to the original language.



## P ARAGRAPH 

## 18

R EQUIREMENT AS WRITTE N 18. If the UAS loses communications or loses its GPS signa l, the UA must return to a pre

- determined location within the private or controlled

- access property.



### R EQUESTED AMENDED LAN GUAGE 18. In the event of a loss of communications signal, a means must be provided to ensure that the UAS remains within the private or controlled

- access property until the flight can be safely terminated. The nature of those provisions shall be documented in the applicable test plan and/or UAS documentation.



### R ATIONALE The TF

- X TM sUAS is a scale model of a future full

- scale powered lift/tilt

- rotor category aircraft that will take off vertically and transition to horizontal flight. It is being designed and built by Terrafugia ( the sUAS operator ) . The first flight s will be manually controlled hover, just off of the
grou nd. Terrafugia is requesting a change to Paragraph 18 to allow functional and test flights without the “return” capability because GPS guidance and thus the ability to “return” will not be added un til later flights.

In the event of loss of signal du ring these manually controlled functional and developmental test flights, the UA will automatically reduce power and land immediatel y

. These test flights will be procedurally limited so that in the event a loss of signal th e UA S will land within the protected

access area where these tests will occur

, t hus providing an equivalent level of safety to the original language.

Even after Terrafugia develops the “ return” cap ability, the TF

- X will be guided by GPS unless and until additional positional awareness systems may be developed . Thus

, it will not be able to “return” in the event of a loss of GPS signal. As with the manually controlled flights, i n response to a loss of GPS signal, the UA S will automatically reduce power and land immediately

. T est flights will be procedurally limited so that in the event of a loss of signal

, the UA S will land within the pro tected

access area where the tests will occur

, t hus providing an equivalent level of safety to the original language.Page | **5** 

## P ARAGRAPH 

## 20

R EQUIREMENT AS WRITTE N 20. The PIC is prohibited from beginning a flight unless (considering wind and forecast weather

con ditions) there is enough available power for the UA to conduct the intended operation and to operate after that for at least five minutes or with the reserve power recommended by the manufacturer if greater.



### R EQUESTED AMENDED LAN GUAGE 20. The PIC is prohi bited from beginning a flight unless (considering wind and forecast weather conditions) there is enough available power for the UA to safely terminate its flight within the private or controlled

- access property area in the event of a malfunction. In the a bsence of an alternate power reserve being specified within the applicable test plan and/or UAS documentation, a reserve of five minutes will apply.



### R ATIONALE
T he TF

- X TM sUAS is being designed and built by Terrafugia ( the sUAS operator ). The first functional

a nd developmental test flights have limited objectives

— e. g., a one

- minute stable hover. Thus it will not have the battery capability to comply with paragraph 20 (5 m inutes of battery reserve)

. These flights will establish battery life (estimated t o be approximately 5 minutes)

. T he test flights will be procedurally limited so that in the event of battery failure

, the UA will land within the protected access area , t hus providing an equivalent level of safety to the original language.