FAA Grants Commercial UAS Exemptions for Ag and Real Estate
Advanced Aviation Solutions plans to use a senseFly eBee Ag UAS like the one shown to collect information for precision agriculture. Photo: senseFly.
This week, the Federal Aviation Administration granted two more Section 333 exemptions for commercial use of unmanned aircraft systems in the national airspace.
The FAA granted Douglas Trudeau of Tierra Antigua Realty in Tucson, Arizona the first exemption for commercial UAS use in real estate. Trudeau will use a Phantom 2 Vision+ quadcopter to enhance community awareness and improve real estate listing videos.
The administration has also given Star, Idaho-based Advanced Aviation Solutions permission to operate a fixed-wing eBee Ag UAS for aerial crop scouting and photographic measurements for precision agriculture.
Trudeau and ADAVSO must both obtain Certificates of Authorization to ensure airspace for each operation is safe and that the proper steps have been taken to see and avoid other aircraft. The COAs will also lay out flight rules and require timely reporting of incident.
“We are excited to commercially develop this technology and recognize the responsibility associated with this privilege,” says ADAVSO CEO Steven Edgar in a released statement. “It is our intention to rapidly deploy this technology with our partners Blair Farms and Empire Airlines in order to provide precision agriculture data gathering for various clients throughout the Northwest.”
Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx found that certificates of airworthiness were not necessary for both proposed operations as they do not pose a threat to national airspace users or national security, according to an FAA press release.
However, the exemptions require both entities to maintain line of sight with the aircraft at all times during operations with an observer and a pilot that has FAA private Pilot certificate and a current medical certificate.
According to the FAA, it has received 214 Section 333 petitions for commercial use of UAS at the time of these most recent exemptions.
