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Dear Mr. Duncan; 

On june 15, 2015 your office issued FAA Section 333 Exemption No. 11831, 

Regulatory Docket No. FAA-2015 1022. We received the exemption document and 

would like further review of the Conditions and Limitations, specifically item No. 13 

that specifies that the "PIC must hold either an airline transport, commercial, private 

recreational or sport pilot certificate ... The PIC must also meet the flight review 

requirements specified in 14 CFR § 61.56 in an aircraft in which the PIC is rated on 

his or her pilot certificate." 

We would like reconsideration of this limitation as requested in our initial333 

Exemption filing: (Highlighted areas are specific to our request) 

B. Appendix B: Wild Horses' argument for exemption from 14 C.F.R. §61.113: 

Private pilot privileges and limitations: Pilot in command. 

Wild Horses requests an exemption from 14 C.F .R. §61.113 so that the PIC of the UA 

will not be required to possess a private or commercial pilot's license. As the FAA and 

numerous other national airspace regulators have recognized, UA operations conducted 

by persons who do not hold a pilot's license can still achieve the equivalent level of 

safety of current operations by manned aircraft with pilots holding a private or 

commercial pilot's license. 

Although it recognizes that a pilot's license is unnecessary for safe UA operation, the 

FAA has to date declined to allow grant exemptions under Section 333 that would permit 

individuals who possess neither a private nor a commercial pilot's certificate to conduct 

commercial UA operations. It has specified two reasons for declining to do so. First, it 

has stated that it does not possess the authority under Section 333 to exempt individuals 

from the requirement under 49 U.S.C. §44711 to hold an airman certificate authorizing 

the airman to serve in the capacity for which the certificate was issued. Exemption No. 

11110 at 14. Second, the FAA has concluded that the Department of Homeland Security 

(DHS) security screening required of all certified airmen meets the statutory requirement 

in Section 333 that operations not pose a threat to national security. ~E xemption No. 11110 at 15. Wild Horses respectfully requests that the FAA reconsideli 

its position. Cfhere is no dispute that it is unnecessary for an operator of a UA to go 

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through the rigorous process of becoming a certified pilot in order to safely operate a UA. 

In addition, the FAA does have the authority to exempt UA operators from the 

lre<}!lirement in 49 U.S.C. §44711 to hold an airman certificate for "serv[ing] in the 
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1evel of safety of current operations by manned aircraft with pilots holding a private o 

commercial pilot's license. In its recent UAS NPRM, the FAA stated: 

.. While these airman certification requirements are necessary for manned aircraft 

operations, they impose an unnecessary burden for many small UAS operations. 

This is because a person typically obtains a private or commercial pilot certificate 

by learning how to operate a manned aircraft. Much of that knowledge would not_----, 

be applicable to small UAS operations because a small UAS is operated differently than 

manned aircraft. In addition, the knowledge currently necessary to obtain a private 

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commercial pilot certificate would not equip the certificate holder with the tools 

necessary to safely operate a small UAS ... Thus, requiring persons wishing to operate a 

small UAS to obtain a private or commercial pilot certificate imposes the cost of 

certification on those persons, but does not result in a significant safety benefit because 

the process of obtaining the certificate does not equip those persons with the tools 

necessary to mitigate the public risk posed by small UAS operations." Operation and 

Certification of Small Unmanned Aircraft, 80 Fed. Reg. 9543 at 9550 {proposed Feb. 23, 

2015 (to be codified at 14 

C.F.R. Parts 21, 43, 45, et al.)). 

The FAA's conclusion that manned aircraft flying experience is unnecessary for the 

operation of a UA is supported by research by the FAA and the Army Research 

Laboratory. 

They demonstrate that UAs, even those much larger than the sUAS proposed by Wild 

Horses, can be safely flown by non-certificated pilots with a small amount of training. 

For example, one Army Research Laboratory study concluded: 

"[T]he specific motor skills needed to control the radio-controlled UAV would have 

to be learned by aviators independently of the motor skills learned in flying an aircraft. 

In particular, the somatic and visual cues that pilots use during aircraft landings would 

not be useful (and perhaps even counter-productive) for the different skill sets and 

perceptual viewpoint necessary for radio-controlled landings." 1 

Additional research reports lend further support for the exclusion requested. For example, 

a report sponsored by the FAA concluded that "We know that certain systems, like the 

U.S. Army Hunter and Shadow systems, are successfully flown by pilots with no manned 

aircraft experience. "2 

In addition, foreign government airspace regulators that have examined the issue have 

consistently recognized that the skills required to fly a manned aircraft are irrelevant to 

operating a UA. For that reason, they have concluded that UA operators do not need to 

have a private or commercial pilot's license. Canada, for example, does not require a 

pilot's license to operate a UA. Transport Canada requires training ofUA operators, but 

that training is limited to pilot ground school and flight operation training on UAs, not 
2 Kevin W. Williams, Unmanned Aircraft Pilot Medical Certification Requirements, 

ReportDOT/FAA/AM-07/3, FAA Civil Aerospace Medical Institute, page 2, (2007), 

available at http.//fas.org, 1rp/program co11ectlua-pilot.pdf. 

While the authors speculated that UAS use in populated areas may change this 

assessment, indicating further research was needed to address this concern, this concern 

is inapplicable as Wild Horses's flights will not be in congested areas. 

See also Jason S. McCarley & Christopher D. Wickens, Human Factors Implications of 

UA Vs in the National Airspace, Institute of Aviation, Aviation Human Factors Division, 

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 13 (2004), available at 

http./ /wvvw. tc.faa. gov/logistlcs/grants/pdf/2004/04-G-032.pdf. 

3 See Civil Aviation, Standards, Transport Canada, Advisory Circular: Guidance Material 

for Operating Unmanned Air Vehicle Systems under an Exemption at 14 and 18-22, 

(Nov. 27, 2014) available at http://www.tcgc.ca/media/documents/ca-opssvs/ac-600· 

004.pdf. 

Similarly, the United Kingdom's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) recognized that 

determining "Remote Pilot qualification requirements on the same basis as manned 

aircraft may yield requirements that are too inflexible, too onerous and inappropriate for 

UAS operations." s 

As a result, the CAA only requires UA operators to demonstrate UA operator 

competence.6 

While there are a variety of ways to demonstrate competence, the most common is to 

complete a course that will lead to a ground exam and flight test. Australia, too, requires 

only passage of a UA-specific ground school program in lieu of a private pilot license.? 

Finally, more than a dozen countries, including Germany, Italy, France, Spain and the 

Netherlands, have adopted the National UAS Certificate for Small Unmanned Aircraft 

(BNUC-S) Standard for UA pilot certification.s This standard results in a type-specific 

UA certificate and does not require the operator to have a pilot's license. The process 

involves taking a short ground school course, passing a ground school test and then 

passing a practical test on commercial operation of the specific UAS per the UAS 

manufacturer's operations manual. 

All of this experience and evidence indicates that the proposed exemption will provide a 

greater level of safety than operations under 14 C.F.R. §61.113. In this instance, the PIC 

has had decades ofUA experience. He has focused his training and education on UAs 
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pilot certificate. As we show in the next section, that position is both incorrect and 

contradicted by the FAA's recent decisions. 

2. The FAA has and has already exercised the authority to exempt applicants from 

the airman certificate requirement The FAA claims that it lacks authority to exempt UA 

operators from the requirement of 49 U.S. §44711 to hold an airman certificate 

authorizing the airman "'to serve in the capacity for which the certificate was issued." See, 

e.g., Exemption No. 11110 at 14. This claim is inconsistent with both (i) the statutory 

language of that section and Section 333, and (ii) numerous recent FAA decisions. 

The operative part of 49 USC §44711 provides that a "person may not . . . serve in any 

capacity as an airman with respect to a civil aircraft, ... used, or intended for use, in air 

commerce - (A) without an airman certificate authorizing the airman to serve in the 

capacity for which the certificate was issued .. . "' If the FAA's interpretation were 

correct, this language would require that any person wishing to operate a UA for 

commercial operations have an airman certificate authorizing the person to serve as an 

airman in commercial operations. 

However, in all of its recent grants of Section 333 petitions, the FAA has- withou 

explicitly acknowledging the fact- exempted commercial UA operators from the§ 

44711(A) requirement that they hold an airman certificate authorizing them "to serve in 

the capacity for which the certificate was issued." It has done so by allowing them to 

operate a UA so long as they hold a private pilot's or sport pilot's authorization, even 

though such a certificate does not permit commercial operations. Exemption No. 11 062 at 15-18 Exemption No. 11110 at 14-16 ExemRtion No. 11191 at 3-5 and Exemption No. 

11229 at 3 and 8. 

The FAA argues that it cannot exempt applicants from the requirements of §44 711 

because, while the specific language of Section 333 grants it limited statutory flexibility 

relative to 49 U.S.C. §44704 for the purposes of airworthiness certification, Section 333 

does not provide flexibility relative to §44711 and other sections of Title 49. Exemption 

No. 11110 at 14. This argument ignores the plain language of the statute. The relevant 

language of Section 333 is: 

(a) IN GENERAL.- Notwithstanding any other requirement of this subtitle, and 

not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 

Transportation shall determine if certain unmanned aircraft systems may operate 

safely in the national airspace system before completion of the plan and 

rulemaking required by section 332 of this Act or the guidance required by 

section 334 of this Act 

(b) ASSESSMENT OF UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS.- In making the 
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(c) REQUIREMENTS FOR SAFE OPERATION.-lfthe Secretary determines 

under this section that certain unmanned aircraft systems may operate safely in 

the national airspace system, the Secretary shall establish requirements for the 

safe operation of such aircraft systems in the national airspace system. 

The language of Section 333(b) is permissive: it requires that the Secretary "determine, at 

a minimum ... whether a certificate of waiver, certificate of authorization, or 

airworthiness certification under section 44704 of title 49, United States Code, is required 

for the operation of unmanned aircraft systems identified under paragraph (1)." Nothing 

in (b) precludes the Secretary from determining whether or not arPilot's license is 

equired for operation of a UA identified under paragraph (b X l ). 

Indeed, the FAA has implicitly conceded the point by granting exemptions from the 

requirement that commercial UA operators hold a commercial pilot certificate. From a 

analytical standpoint, there is no difference between granting an exemption from the 

commercial pilot's license requirement and granting an exemption from the private o 

sport pilot's license requirement. Both are clearly exemptions from a specific statutory 

equirement in 49 U.S. C. §44711 . If the FAA has the statutory authority under Sectionj 

333(b) to do the former, it has the same authority to do the latter.9 

For all of the reasons set forth above, the FAA should reconsider its position and exercise 

its full authority to grant an exemption from all the requirements of 49 USC §44 711 , so 

that a person serving as a commercial UA operator need not have a pilot's license. 

It is therefore requested that our 333 Exemption item 13 be restated, modified or removed 

in accordance with the above stated policies and procedures. 

Thank you in advance for your time and consideration of this matter. 

Sincerely, 

Mark Underkofler, resident 

Charles Franklin, Inc. dba/ Wild Horses A Film Company 

8424 Bernard Rd. 

Sanger, TX 76266