Allegedly Violated Terms of Their Exemption

On July 5, the FAA rescinded the exemption held by a drone seller for 55-pound and heavier drone operations and denied a petition to amend the exemption. 

This action was taken for alleged violations of the conditions and limitations (C&L) of the exemption. The drone seller has the option to challenge the cancelation in court.

The drone seller had a training-for-hire session advertised on their website which the FAA saw and in response, visited the training session to observe it. The FAA safety inspectors witnessed the pilot in command presenting training-for-hire activities for non-employees. When the PIC spoke with the inspectors he said the activities were “training.” The FAA asked him under what training authority he was using, the PIC said he was operating under an exemption for 55-pound and heavier operations.

The PIC said “his customers” were also the visual observers (VOs) for the operation. However when asked by the FAA, the PIC could not say whether any of the “VOs” had been through VO training. The FAA also observed the PIC fly the drone closer than 100 feet from the session attendees as well as a non-participating farmer tilling in the field where the session was held.

At the training session, the PIC was unable to provide these documents:

• Exemption document
• PIC’s Part 107 certificate
• UAS registration
• Operating documents listed in the exemption
• No checklist to verify a preflight inspection

The drone seller did furnish several of the above documents but was unable to produce these:

• Proof of registration for the UAS
• Any preflight inspections for any of the UAS operated
• Documentation for any training conducted including for VOs
• Documentation of any maintenance performed on any of the UAS
• Any FAA authorization allowing non-employee training

The FAA observed the training sessions on April 8th and 9th, and interviewed the drone seller on April 9th. The seller’s exemption was canceled on July 5.

FMI:  jrupprechtlaw.com/ ,  jrupprechtlaw.com/faa-drone-spraying-exemption/