1 U.S. Department of Transportation

29

th May, 2015

Stephen Keen

geoResource Technologies, Inc.

41 Cameron Avenue

Cambridge, MA 02140

U.S. Department of Transportation

Docket Management System

1200 New Jersey Ave., SE

Washington DC 20590

Re: Amendment to Exemption Approval (Exemption No. 11677) Pursuant to Section 333 of the FAA Reform Act 

and Part 11 of the Federal Aviation Regulations

Dear Sir or Madam:

Pursuant to Section 333 of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 (the “Reform Act”) and 14 CFR Part 

11, Stephen Keen, DBA ‘geoResource Technologies, Inc.’ operator of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), hereby 

requests an Amendment to Exemption No. 11677. This amendment is related wholly to the addition of one (1)

additional UAV platform, beyond the existing DJI S1000 already approved, and seeks no changes to the existing 

terms and conditions of the current exemption. Thank you in advance for your consideration.

Additional UAV Platform

The additional platform related to this Amendment request is the FireFLY6 BirdsEyeView Aerobotics. The UAV is 

a vertical take-off, forward flight platform that is optimized for the collection of data related to high-accuracy survey 

and mapping tasks. The platform has both hover and forward flight controllers (Pixhawk) providing stabilized flight 

for additional safety and has complete ‘return-to-home’ capabilities which can be triggered by the PIC or 

automatically triggered if communications are lost with the aircraft for any reason. The platform has been 

developed over 3+ years with hundreds of test flights focused on the development of a safe, robust platform to 

support advanced mapping capability. The aircraft can be flown manually or through the use of Mission Planner 

ground station software to develop flight plans for mapping missions (manual control can be re-asserted by the user 

at any time during autonomous flight). The platform specifications are described below:

o Wingspan - 60" (1524 mm)

o Length - 37.4" (950 mm)

o Weight - 6.0-9.0 lbs (2.7-4.1kg) all-up

o Flight Time - 15-45+ minutes average hybrid flight

o Payload Capacity - 1.5-2.5lbs (0.7-1.1kg)

o Cruise Speed - 30-35kts (34-40mph, 15-18m/s)
2 U.S. Department of Transportation

29

th May, 2015

o Max Speed - 50kts (57mph, 26m/s)

As with the original Section 333 Exemption application, the focus of the operation of the FireFLY6 related to this 

amendment is safety. That is the safe operation of the aircraft by following all the operational procedures listed in 

the original application (related to normal procedures, emergency procedures, pre-flight checklist, take-off checklist, 

post-flight checklist and the maintenance of flight and battery log books), the over-riding principle being that if there 

is any doubt whatsoever related to the safety of the mission it will not be flown and steps will be taken to remedy 

any concerns before proceeding. This relates to; maintenance, platform hardware and software, environmental 

conditions (site and weather conditions), proximity of individuals not immediately-related to flight operations and 

any safety concerns).

Included in this application for an Amendment are attachments related to configuration and operation of the various 

elements of the FireFLY6 system. 

Included in this application for an Amendment is an attachment of the original Section 333 Exemption request by 

geoResource Technologies, Inc. - geoResourceTechnologiesInc-333.pdf.

Included in this application for an amendment is an attachment of the original FAA approval letter for Exemption 

No. 11677 (Regulatory Docket No. FAA–2015–0701) - geoResourceTechnologiesInc-11677.pdf.

Sincerely,

Stephen Keen, dba ‘geoResource Technologies, Inc.’