PETER ZANLUNGHI

65 Park Rd. Stony Point, NY 10980 | Cell (914)527-9887 | pjzanlunghi@aol.com

US Dept of Transportation

West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140

1200 New Jersey Ave. SE

Washington, DC 20590

SUMMARY AUGUST 25, 2015

Waiver of 

Authorization

Request

Waiver of Authorization under Part 333 of P.L. 112-95, certain rules of unmanned 

aircraft systems.

I would like a waiver of authorization to fly my DJI Inspire 1 unmanned aircraft, S/N

W13DCG29040033. I have submitted my form FAA form 8050-1 registration form. 

The DJI Inspire has two red and two green lights that are always on and indicate

direction Inspire is oriented.

The DJI Inspire also has many safety features built in, return to home with 20% battery 

power remaining, or if communication between the Inspire and the controller is lost for 

any reason, the Inspire climbs to preprogrammed altitude and returns to base, during

all power operations, airborne or on ground.

All operations will be in accordance with DJI manufacturer operations, inspections and 

instructions manuals as well as any federal and local laws and regulations.

Similar requests that have been approved are:

Filmed Imagination EXEMPTION # 12615

Blue Skies Ahead EXEMPTION # 12608

Sky Vue Technology EXEMPTION # 12603

Operations All operations will be within visual line of sight. Operations will be done in a 2 people team.

 Pilot will hold a commercial pilot certificate and be current on all applicable FAA and 

 Local regulations and laws.

 Operator will be be within speaking distance of the visual observer. Visual observer will have 

 20/20 or corrected to 20/20 vision.

 

 Aircraft will be operated below 400 feet above ground level at all times, never exceeding

 55 Knots and always within visual line of sight of both the operator and visual observer.

 Any payload will be in accordance with DJI operating manual and never exceed 8 pounds.

 The aircraft will not be operated within 5 miles of any airfields with an operating control 
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 tower or 3 miles of any airport with instrument approach procedures.

 All operations will be in day VFR conditions only.

 All maintenance involving powerplant, batteries, propellers and payload will be put in a 

 Maintenance log that will be kept as a record for a minimum of one year. After all main-

 tenance aircraft will be test flown in a secure area to ensure all operations are as intended by 

 manufacturer.

 All maintenance will be accomplished by appropriately rated mechanic and be in accordance

 with DJI manual and acceptable maintenance practices.

 All operations will be conducted in controlled areas and will ensure that the general

 public or property will not be at risk. No operations will be conducted over congested areas.

 All operations will be with property owners permission, and with only required personnel

 in operations area. All operations will have a document providing operations plan.

 The DJI Inspire 1 meets Part 15 of FCC regulations, operating in the 2.4GHz spectrum.

 The DJI Inspire 1 will be programmed to return to base with a minimum of 20 percent power

 remaining on all missions.

Exemptions from compliance:

 91.121 Altimeter setting, there are no personnel on aircraft, always operated below 400 feet,

 Altitude is derived from very sophisticated GPS and Sonar like down facing camera.

 91.9(b)2 Aircraft flight manual, No personnel on aircraft, remotely operated.

 Airworthiness certificate and registration numbers, aircraft makes minimal noise and

 45.23 Limited size for display of registration numbers.

 91.151 (a) & (b) VFR fuel minimums, aircraft does not operate with fuel, programmed to return to 

 base with 20% power remaining.

 I would like to operate my Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) pursuant to Section 333 of the FAA 

 Modernization and Reform Act of 2012. This exemption will permit operation for commercial 

 purposes of conducting aerial video and photography, as well as pro-bono if people are missing in

 water or woods.

 

 

 Permission to operate at H43, owned by me and used for training. Aircraft will immediately land

 if helicopter calls in on Unicom frequency, 123.05 as noted on NY sectional chart, or a manned 

 helicopter is heard or observed operating in the area. There will be no UAS operations while

 helicopters are operating on the ramp area.

 I am a commercially rated helicopter pilot with over 10000 hours of incident, accident and 

 violation free flying, and also instrument rated with A&P certificate. I am the chief pilot of Air Metro 

 Helicopters, FAA certificate #CZQA948W. I am currently the pilot that provides utility patrols to Con

 Edison and Orange and Rockland utilities. This could also be useful to these utilities as when we find a

 Problem we can go back to structure or line and get a better view and picture of any possible problems. 

Proposed reasoning for waiver:
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 I believe that we will be able to do comprehensive inspections of power grid without having to operate

a conventional helicopter in peoples back yards with lineman on platform exposing the lineman pilot and 

peoples property at risk as well as mitigating the noise that people are continuously complaining about on 

comprehensive patrols. This will also be used to do inspections of smoke stacks and roofs, as well as possibly 

used to look for missing people in lake and river areas, we are located on the Hudson river in Haverstraw, NY 

with many ponds and lakes in the area.

 

 We would also be able to fly camera into areas after disasters to assess damage without putting people

 at risk of the unknown for local authorities as I am a pilot with the Rockland county Helicopter Emergency

 Lift Program, this could be lower and transmit pictures back to emergency services personnel. 

 We would also like to be able to do landscape and real estate video for private owners as well as local 

events which people were not previously able to afford using conventional aircraft.

The DJI Inspire 1 has upgradable software that can be programmed to return to base at specific altitudes as 

well as being able to program max distance from operator and maximum altitude it can reach for each flight

to ensure compliance with FAA and local regulations and laws. The Inspire 1 will be programmed to not go 

more than 500 meters from the operator. The Inspire 1 will always have the latest software updates before 

use, this shows up on the controller.

This requested exemption would support an application for a commercial Certificate of Authorization should 

a situation arise in which I will be requested to go above 200 feet above ground level.

The FAA has recently approved numerous similar requests to use the DJI Inspire 1, one of which is Nicholas

Brown, which is similar to my intentions.