US Department of Transportation

Docket Management System

1200 New Jersey Ave, SE

Washington DC 20590

RE: Exemption Request Under Section 333 of the FAA Reform Act and Part 1 of the 

Federal Aviation Regulations

Dear Sir or Madame,

In accordance with Section 333 of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 (the 

Reform Act Section 333) Subsection Subsection (f): Exemptions of 49 U.S.C. § 44701 

and 14 C.F.R. Part 11 (§11.61-§11.101), Part §61.3, The VMJR Companies respectfully 

seeks exemption from the following FAA regulations:

14 C.F.R. § 61.23 (a) (c)

14 C.F.R. § 61.315 (a) 

14 C.F.R. § 61.101 (e 4-5)

14 C.F.R. § 91.121

 14 C.F.R. § 91.151 (a: 1)

14 C.F.R. § 91.405 (a) 

14 C.F.R. § 91.409 (a: 1-2)

14 C.F.R. §91.417 (a)

14 C.F.R. § 61.113 (a)(b) Pilot in Command

14 C.F.R. § 91.7 (a)  Airworthiness

14 C.F.R. §91.109 (a)  Flight Instruction

14 C.F.R. § 91.407 (a: 1)

14 C.F.R. § 91.7 (a)  Airworthiness

The VMJR Companies is a construction firm that collectively is comprised of itself and 

two subsidariessubsidiaries; Adirondack Construction and Sweet Construction. The 

VMJR Cos. provides construction services as a general contractor in Healthcare, 

Education, Industrial, Hospitality, Retail, Office. Historic Restoration and Corporate 
venues. We are requesting exemption from the aforementioned FAA Regulations and to 

be allowed to use and operate the DJI Phantom 2 Vision Unmanned Aircraft System 

(UAS) in order to attain aerial imagery, inspection and data collection for our projects at 

various construction sites in primarily central Upstate New York State primarily. The 

information collected by the UAS will aid The VMJR Companies in inspection and 

monitoring of these sites, which will ultimately result in enhancement of safety for our 

employees and economic efficacy of our clients.

The safety and public benefits of using the UAS in commercial construction are 

enormous. Use of an UAS will completely eliminate the necessity of operating a manned 

aircraft in unconventional operations, such as hovering over a site for aerial footage. Not 

only will the UAS provide the same benefits of footage taken by a

manned aircraft, but with a maximum flight time of 25 (twenty-five) minutes. This would 

translate to a significantly reduced impact on our environment insofar as fuel that would 

be used to operate a manned aircraft and the known hazards to avian species in our 

region. The use of an UAS will also provide a limit to the number of inspections 

necessary to operate and maintain a construction site, which will inherently mean a 

limitation to the frequency of use of: lifts, scaffolding, ladders and other equipment used 

for heights above surface levels. Injuries (and even fatality) of work such as this are well 

known and well documented. As such, the use of an UAS will inherently translate to 

increased safety of our employees and subcontractors.

Operations relative to this exemption will be manifested with strict operational procedure 

requirements and pre-operational conditions that will ensure a minimal level of safety to 

that which has been prescribed and which are required currently by the FAA. The DJI 

Phantom 2 Vision weights 1000 grams (approximately 2.204 lbs) and is powered 

electrically via lithium batteries that electrically drive propellers. The maximum speed of 

this UAS is no more than 15 m/s, which will be operated (pending your review of this 

request) under controlled conditions and low altitudes and is designed with integrated 

fail-safe components.

The following criterion will be used for all flights:

I. All flight operations will be subject to a mandatory pre-flight inspection in which the 

operator or Pilot in Command and Visual Observer will verify and validate (using a two 

point checking system for increased operational safety):

II.?

a)?

Perform a visual inspection of the UAS for:

1. UAS in clean operating condition, with no exterior damage to body to: i. Propellers ii. 

Body

2. Transmission signal verification
3. Router verification

4. Toggle switches verification

5. Gimbal lock/ Lens cap removed

6. SD Card Inserted

7. UAS battery fully charged and inserted

8. UAS in clear, safe launch position if it returns to home

9. Wifi connection secure

10. Satelite connection(s) verified

11. Video recording on

If there is a discrepancy relative to verification of any of the check points mandated, the 

UAS will not be operated until both parties have resolved, using a third party source 

(manual, maintenance provider or expert of the product).

3. Operator Designations

1. a) All operations will be overseen by both a designated pilot (PIC) and a visual 

observer (VO)

2. b) The UAS will always remain in the visual line of sight (VLOS) of BOTH 

the Visual Observer and the PIC,

3. c) The designated Pilot and Visual observers must remain in a range close 

enough at all times, to communicate verbally without aid(s).

4. d) The positions and appointments of the PIC and VO will be delineated prior 

to flight

5. e) The PIC and VO designations will not be transferred at any point during the 

flight.

4. Flight Parameters

1. a) The UAS will not exceed an operational altitude of 400 feet

2. b) The UAS will not be operated at a speed greater than 33 miles per hour 

during any operation.

3. c) The UAS shall not be operated at any location with a high 

density population
4. d) The UAS shall not ever be operated within five (5) miles of any municipal 

airport are 1 mile from any operation in which a control tower/ radio 

tower is used for communication of aviation endeavor

5. e) The UAS shall not be operated at any site in which anyone other than the 

employees of VMJR Companies or affiliate(s) of the client are present 

and furthermore:

6. f) That the individuals at the site of flight operation(s) are all notified of such 

operations

7. g) The UAS shall not be used in any location aside from those work site’s or 

project site’s in which The VMJR Companies is directly affiliated with as 

a General Contractor (or in the rare case of subcontracting, shall seek to 

attain a separate CAO for that specified site).

The VMJR Companies seeks relief such as in the precedent set with Douglas Trudeau 

under exemption 11138 in which relef was granted under similar circumstance such as 

air-worthiness of the UAS being used for the same purpose of collection of aerial 

photography, aerial videography and for educational purpose of heighteing the awareness 

of the site. Contrary to this exemption, we will be educating our employees and project 

management of data collected that can not otherwise be attained at ground level without 

scaffolding, ladders and the like.

The VMJR Companies seeks relief from:

14 C.F.R. § 61.113 (a)(b) Pilot in Command

The VMJR Companies seeks relief from 14 C.F.R. 61.113 (a) (b) to operate our single 

UAS (DJI Phantom 2 Vision) without a Commercial Pilot Certification from the FAA or 

third class airman medical certification. The size of this aircraft and other operational 

delineations such as weight, speed and maximum flight time would render this aircraft as 

being safe to operate with such credentials such as our Project Management and affiliated 

employees. We will propose that any employee selected to operate our UAS will meet a 

requirement of having at minimum 20 hours of prior experience; documented and signed 

off on by a supervisor for each employee that would be considered for PIC or VO).

This exemption is especially important to us because this would significantly effect the 

operational success of our company insofar as having to send any one of our talented 

project engineers to gain such a certification, in addition to the undue cost of such a 

certification (which we have found to cost anywhere from $3k- $8k. As such, the cost 

incurred in such an endeavor, the loss of talent on any given job site as weighed to the 

benefits of attaining ‘proper certification’ would not balance.

We propose that we employ not only a self designated PIC (provided that we attain

exemption relief) AND a Visual Observer for each and every flight operation that occurs. 

We propose operational flight parameters that entail a single individual to pilot our UAS 

and an additional ’spotter’ to maintain sight of the UAS IN ADDITION to the pilot 
always having the UAS in a visual line of sight. We believe that this action would suffice 

the need to maintain an additional certification that is specific to piloting the UAS under 

these regulations. 

*If the FAA finds that relief may not be granted, alternatively we request a 180 day grace 

period in which we may operate our UAS in accordance with legal requirements, to 

afford us the 4-6 months of training that must be allocated for one of our employees in 

seeking a private pilot license. 

Section 91.109

We seek relief from Section 91.109 so that in the future, if an employee expresses interest 

in maintaining the minimum flight requirements necessary to operate our UAS (of 20 

hours of flight time) that we have the ability to allow for these trainings. We propose that 

we conduct dedicated training sessions in which a previously designated PIC may 

conduct new training exercises with new employees and that relief from 61.113 translates 

into a designee (rather than one holding a private pilot license) be able to train new pilots 

on operational matters. 

We further assert that all training exercises will be documented in terms of recording both 

hours spent on operations and subject content domains that were covered in these 

exercises. We propose that these records also be maintained for a minimum of five (5) 

years from the date of each training.

14 C.F.R. Part 21, Certification Procedures for Products

We are seeking relief for this statutory criterion in accordance with Section 333 since our 

aircraft meets the conditions of Section 333. As such, it is not necessary to mandate 

testing requirements and noise certifications of part 36. Our aircraft is ~ 2lbs (including 

camera component), unlike the manned aircrafts that would generally be subject to a 

requirement such as this. With our ~2 lb UAS, we will be able to accomplish conducting 

aerial photography and site inspection(s) if necessary without endangering the lives of 

onboard crew members; which often times are on a craft weighing many thousands of 

pounds. Our pilot and crew will be safely at ground level, greatly reducing any associated 

risk of flying an aircraft in standard aerial operations. Additionally, our UAS operates 

without fuel (electrically)safely and will hold the same level of safety (at least, if not a 

greater level of safety) insofar as having presets that allow for auto-piloting in the event 

of a failure, back to a pre-designated home base (which is delineated at take off).

14 C.F.R. 91.405 (a), 91.407 (a) (1), 91.409 (a) (1), 91.409 (a) (1) (2), 91.417 (a) (b): 

Inspection, Maintenance and Operation
The VMJR Companies employs Engineers and construction professionals who are well 

equipped to (as an alternative to the prescribed91.409 & (a) (2) regarding inspection, selfinspect the UAS prior to any operation. We seek relief from mandate and propose that we 

inspect the UAS with a prescribed checklist (preflight) that ensures that all components 

of the UAS are fully operational in addition to a pre-flight test consisting of movement in 

North, South, East, West, max/ min altitude and confirmation that all directionals are 

fully functional with RC for a safe flight.

Each and every operation that takes place will be signed off on the crew-members (PIC) 

and (VO) and kept for 5 years.

Section 91.7(a) which prescribes that no person may operate a civil aircraft unless it is in 

an airworthy condition.

The VMJR Companies asserts that with the exemption, we will in lieu of an 

airworthiness certification, shall maintain pre-operational flight check list that will be 

checked and validated with two separate individuals and that if a discrepancy occurs, that 

the UAS shall not take flight until the UAS is replaced or the issue has been resolved 

with a third party expert or consult.

We also further assert that the pilot in command will adhere to pre-flight action 

referenced above and take any necessary precaution that must be maintained in 

observation of the weatherm and visibility, UAS battery power, aircraft performance in 

pre-flight test and any other associated risk in the vicinity. The return to home navigation 

sequence will also be employed to further mitigate any risk associated with operating the 

UAS.

The VMJR Companies asserts that the designated operator (PIC) shall be held 

responsible for all documentation of pre-flight records, maintenance records and other 

such documents pertaining to flight, operation, incidental FAA reporting and 

maintenance of UAS for each flight. 

We also reassert that the craft will not be used outside of designated ‘work’ or 

construction zones and will only be used when those areas are free of human occupants 

other than the designated operator and visual observer at all times.