September 1 , 2015

U.S. Department of Transportation Docket Management System 1200 New Jersey Ave., SE Washington, DC 20590



## FreeSkies Corporation’s	Petition	For	Exemption	From	The Requirements	of	Title	14	of	the	Code	of	Federal	Regulations: 14	C.F.R	§§	61.101,	61.113(a)	and	(b),	91.7(a),	91.9	(b)(2), 91.109,	91.119(c),	91.121,	91.151,	91.203(a)	and	(b),	91.405(a), 91.407(a)1(a),	91.409( a)(2),	91.417(a)	and	(b),	Pursuant	to

Section	333	of	the	FAA	Modernization	and	Reform	Act	of	2012

Name	and	Address	of	Petitioner

FreeSkies	Inc.

2200	San d Hill	Road,	Suite	240
Menlo	Park,	CA	94025
Andy	Putch

And y @freeskies.org

217

- 418

- 6703SECTION	I

– PETITION	SUMMARY

Pursuant to Section 333 of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, Pub. L. No. 112

- 95 (2012), 126 Stat. 11 (“Section 333), 14 C.F.R 11, and the FAA ge neral exemption authority under 49 U.S.C. § 44701( f), FreeSkies Inc. (henceforth , the ‘Petitioner’) hereby applies for a “Summary

Grant” e xemption from Federal Aviation R egulations (‘FARs’) identified below, to allow for commercial operation of small unmanned aircraft

, under 55 pounds in gross weight

, in airsp ace regulated by the Federal Av i a ti on Administration (FAA), for the purposes of technology research, operations training, photography, videography, a nd aerial data collection.

The propos ed exemptions are specifically from 14 C.F.R §§ 61.101, 61.113(a) and (b), 91.7(a), 91.9 (b)(2), 91.109, 91.119(c), 91.121, 91.151, 91.203(a) and (b), 91.405(a), 91.407(a) ( 1 )

, 91.409(a)(2), 91.417(a) and (b).

The specific small unmanned aircraft to be op erated under this exemption petition are the : DJI Phantom 3 and the DJI Inspire 1

.

SECTION	II

– DESCRIPTION	OF PETITIONER OPERATIONS

This exemptio n would be granted to allow the Petitioner to operate the vehicles described above

for the use of technology research, oper ations training, photography, videography, and aerial data

collection. All aircraft will have a gross weight of less than 5 5 pounds, travel at speeds no greater than 87 knots, carry neither pilot nor passengers, and will operate at all times within a secured area. All flights will occur within the operating limits recommended by the aircraft manufacturer, and in accordance with the safety guidelines and operational standards outlined by the aircraft manufacturer. All radio freque ncy spectrum for operations and control of aircraft complies with

the Federal Communications Commi s sion (“FCC”) requirements. All UAS flown under this exemption are equipped with safety mechanisms to allow for the ability to perform predictable,

automated flight maneuvers to return to a predefine d location in the event of cert a i n in

- flight failures, including lost link conditions. Additionally, all flights will be flown with a minimum crew consisting of the ‘pilot in command’ (PIC) and ‘visual operator’ (VO ).

Below is a summary of the limitations and conditions to which the Petitioner proposes to be bound when conducting commercial flight operations under this exemption petition:

- All aircraft will weigh less than 5 5 pounds

.

- All flights will occur during daylight hours

.

- All flights will be conducted with a minimum crew of a PIC and VO

.

- All flights will be conducted by a PIC who holds an airline transport, commercial, private, recreational, or sports pilot certificate.

- All PICs will have demonstrated the safe abilit y to operate the UAS consistent with this exemption, consistent with aircraft manufacturer’s operation limitation, and consistent to the Petitioner’s internal operational standards.

- All flights will be conducted by a PIC who holds either a current FAA medi cal certificate,

or a valid U.S. Driver’s license.

- At all times, VO will be able to communicate by voice and/or radio to PIC

.- All flights will be operated within visual line of sight (VLOS) of PIC and/or VO

.

- All flights will be operated at an altitude no h igher than 400 feet AGL

.

- No flights will occu r within 5 nautical miles of an ‘ airport reference point ’ (ARP) as denoted in the current FAA Air port/Facility Directory (AFD) unless a letter of agreement with that airport’s management is obtained or otherwise permitted by a COA issued to the exemption holder. The letter of agreement with the airport management must be made available to the Administrator or any law enforcement official upon request.

- The UA may not be operated less than 500 feet below o r less than 2,000 feet horizontally from a cloud or when visibility is less than 3 statute miles from the PIC.

- If the UAS loses communications or loses its GPS signal, the UA must return to a pre

determined location within the private or controlled

- access property.

- All Flight operations must be conducted at least 500 feet from all nonparticipating persons (th is excludes PIC, VO, and operat or trainees), vessels, vehicles, and structures unless:

o Barriers or structures are present that sufficiently protect non participating persons from the UA and/or debris in the event of an accident. The operator must ensure that nonparticipating persons remain under such protection. If a situation arises where nonparticipating persons leave such protection and are within 500 feet of the UA, flight operations must cease immediately in a manner ensuring the safety of nonparticipating persons;

o The owner/controller of any vessels, vehicles or structures has granted permission for operating closer to those objects and the PIC has m ade a safety assessment of the risk of operating closer to those objects and determined that it does not present

an undue hazard.

SECTION	III

– EXEMPTION	REQUESTS	AND	EQUIVALENT	LEVEL	OF	SAFETY

14	CF R	§ 61.113(a)

- (b): Private	pilot	privileges	and limitations:	Pilot	in	command

. 1 4	CFR	§	61.133(a):	Commercial	pilot	privileges	and	limitation

. The Petitioner seeks relief to the extent necessary to allow a PIC holding a private pilot’s license to act as PIC for commercial purposes under the constraints of this exemption, given the PIC is qualified to fly the designa ted UAS as demonstrated by meeting all minimum operational training as outlined by this exemption and the operational standards of the Petitioner.

14	CFR	§	91.7(a) Civil	aircraft	airworthiness

. The P etitioner understands that the FAA has issued simi lar exemptions stating that relief from 14 CFR part 21, Certification procedures for products and parts, Subpart H

— Airworthiness Certificates , is not necessary, which removes the airworthiness certificate requirement for the UAS within this petition, and that exemption from 14 CFR 91.7(a) there is unnecessary. All operators under this exemption will be responsible for determining whether aircraft are safe for flight using

aircraft manufacturer operating guidelines, Petitioner’s internal maintenance and operating standards, and safety checklists.14	CFR	§	91.9 (a) (b)(2)

- (c) Ci vil	aircraft	flight	manual,	marking,	and	placard	requirements

. 14	CFR	§	91.203(a)

- (b) Civil	aircraft:	Certifications	required. The Petitioner seeks relief, given the size of the aircraft, to make all operations and emergency manuals available to all crew members at the ground station at all times. This is in line with the FAA Memorandum “Interpretation regarding whether certain re quired documents may be kept at an unmanned aircraft’s control station,” dated August 8, 2014. Additionally, all aircraft with be marked in human readable font all necessary aircraft identifying information, to be in accordance with 14 CFR 45(c). All ident ifying markings will be as large as practical.

14	CFR	§	109	Flight	instruction;	Simulated	instrument	flight	and	certain	flight	tests. The Petitioner seeks relief, given the existing inherent means of controlling the aircraft described in this petition, the PIC and operat or trainee will be able to adequately operate a single set of controls during training and instruction while maintaining control over the aircraft.

14	CFR	§	91.119(c) Minimum	Safe	Altitudes	General.

The Petitioner seeks relief in that al l operations will be limited to 400 feet altitude AGL, or less and thus will maintain as a separation as practical from all nonparticipant persons, vessels, vehicles, or structures from which the operator does not have the permission to fly above or in

pro ximity to.

14	CFR	§	91.121 Altimeter	Se t tings The Petitioner seeks relief since the aircraft described in this petition will not have a typical barometric altimeter onboard. Also, due to the nature of the operations vehicle will always be

below 600 feet A GL and will not be flying in proximity to other aircraft to warrant measures for deconflicting airspace. Furthermore, an AGL altitude measurement at the aircraft takeoff location

is stored on the aircraft on

- board f light controller, allowing an updated AGL altitude value to be provided to the operator.

14	CFR	§	91.151 Fuel	requirements	for	flight	in	VFR	conditions The Petitioner seeks relief to the extent that all aircraft under this petition are battery operated, will be operated within visual line of sig ht, and will carry battery charge that permits no more than 45 minutes of continuous operation. In lieu o f the 30 minute reserve, the Petitioner will ensure all flights have at least 20% battery reserve, given the intended flight time.

14	CFR	§ 91.405 Mai ntenance	required. 14	CFR	§	91.407(a)(1) Operation	after	maintenance,	preventative	maintenance,	rebuilding,	or

alteration. 14	CFR	§	91.409(a)(2) Inspections 14	CFR	§	91.417(a)

- (b) Maintenance	records. The Petitioner seeks relief to the extent that the operator will ensure that an aircraft is in an airworthy condition prior to every flight and will perform detailed inspections pre

- and post

flight in accordance with the Petitioner’s operational standard s and safety checklists. All maintenance performed on an aircraft will be documented in a dedicated ‘air vehicle log’ and be

retained and made available to Administrator or any authorized representative of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB ) in accordance with 14 CFR § 91.417.SECTION I V

- PUBLIC INTEREST STATMENT

Based on the P etitioner ’s UAS, the qualifications and experience of Petitioner’s UAS operators,

and restricted flight environments within which the Petitioner will operat e, the requested exemptions fall completely within the zone of safety envisioned the FAA Modern ization and

Re form act of 2012 , at the time of this petition. There is inherent enhanced safety achieved by replacing larger, manned aircraft, carrying crew and fuel, with aircraft carrying no passengers or fuel, and operating under specifically limited guidelines and p rocedures proposed by the Petitioner

. The granting of this petition also a dvances Congress goal of integrating commercial UAS operation into the National Airspace System in accordance with the FAA Modernization and

Reform Act

.

Furthermore, the engineering and product development performed by FreeSkies, enables safer flight operations and reduced risk to incidents with increasing amount of flight testing and operational experience.

These reasons give the FAA good cause to find t hat UAS operations enabled by this petition are in the public interest

.

Respectfully submitted, Andy Putch

CEO & Co

- Founder

FreeSkies Inc.