Waiver Watch | Ep 29: Zipline Update and Variety!
Welcome to Waiver Watch!
It’s a jam packed week of waivers at the FAA! Here is the agenda for this Episode 29:
Weekly totals
Novant Health & Zipline follow up
Flirtey Responsible Person Update
Dynetics, Inc High Altitude
Motor Trend Group 107.39(a)
Weekly Waiver Totals
May 21-27, 2020 saw 29 waivers approved:
24 - Daylight Operations (107.29)
1 - Operations Over Human beings (107.39)
1 - Night Operations Over Human Beings (107.29 & 107.39)
This went to Mammoth Lakes Fire Department in CA so great to see a Fire Department using drones to assess and monitor fires.
1 - Daylight Operations, Visual Observer, Simultaneous Operation of Multiple sUA (107.29, 107.31, 107.35)
2 - High Altitude (107.51(b))
California takes home six of the 29 waivers this week with Alabama taking home three.
107W-2020-02083 - Novant Health: Rob Zawrotny
First, we wanted to follow up on the amazing Novant Health waiver approved two weeks ago. We knew more than we let on during that episode. We have a lot of great relationships in the industry and sometimes out of respect for press release time lines or other factors, we leave out some details when we talk about certain waivers.
Route 107Waivers sketched out prior to media release
So! The unanswered questions from last week’s episode were 1) Who and what aircraft is flying this mission? 2) What does this route actually look like?
Novant Health Locations as Checkered Flags
The first answer is Zipline International is supporting this operation with their Zip aircraft. The Zipline is one of the few that would have the endurance to conduct a delivery at the distances this waiver approves.
The second answer on what this route might look like is quite amazing and marks one of the longest drone delivery routes to date. Brent and I drew this image last week while we were reading through the waiver and putting the pieces together. The purple lines represent direct flights from Novant Health Logistics to the clinics. The red circle represents a 3 mile buffer from the nearby airport. The route Zipline is flying is a bit different than this, they first have to fly straight north to exit Concord Regional Airport Class D airspace. Then they’re allowed to fly west to the hospital and clinic.
Why is this waiver amazing?
This is an unprecedented approval. It’s long distance, in controlled airspace, in an urban area, and supporting a need. Zipline International and the FAA will gather some great data from these operations. The unfortunate part is that it will expire as soon as COVID-19 restrictions in North Carolina lift. Hopefully Novant Health and Zipline can demonstrate safe operations until that point and push forward on these operations without the COVID-19 situation.
107W-2020-02323 - Flirtey Inc: Skyler Kachurak
Next up, another Integration Pilot Program waiver going to Flirtey, Inc this time. This waiver is actually just a Responsible Person update to previously issued 107W-2019-04103 and John Johnson. The original waiver was issued August 9, 2019 and has exactly the same provisions. This is just before we started Waiver Watch so let’s cover it briefly here anyways!
They received a waiver to an interesting combination of regulations; 107.29, 107.31, and 107.35. Here’s a few of the highlights
The first clue to what this waiver is for is the location, Tiger Field in Fernley, Nevada. We suspect this waiver is primarily for testing technology and operational 1:many concepts (where one RPIC simultaneously controls multiple aircraft) and potentially some short distance deliveries. The location does have some housing developments within a mile of the airport.
Flirtey can operate up to 10 small unmanned aircraft simultaneously with this approval
The last interesting piece is flight crew position called Safety Pilot. This position is typically a pilot that visually flies an aircraft in a non-automated way such as attitude or manual mode. It appears in this waiver that control be be transferred from RPIC to RPIC during this operation. One explanation could be that there is an RPIC monitoring a display that has all the aircraft on it (up to 10) and then a dedicated safety pilot is standing outside or in visual line of sight in case there is a need to take control.
Pair of High Altitude Waivers & Motor Trend?
107W-2020-01938 & 107W-2020-01702
Dynetics, Inc | Will Figueroa
There was an interesting pair of 107.51(b) waivers this week that went to Dynetics, Inc and Will Figueroa. Dynetics, Inc is an American company focused on advanced materials and technology such as lasers, precision guided munitions, and sensors. The waivers allow small UA operations up to 2,500’ AGL in a small location NW of Huntsville, AL and up to 675’ AGL Courtland Airport in Alabama. The waivers are otherwise standard for 107.51(b) so there isn’t much information about the type of flight operations going on at these locations. Judging by the type of services and technologies Dynetics, Inc is involved in, we bet it’s something interesting!
107W-2020-01850
Motor Trend Group | Mahdad Emadipour
This waiver is a standard 107.39(a) using the ParaZero SafeAir Phantom system but the holder of the waiver caught our eye. Ever seen aerial footage of awesome vehicles on Motor Trend or other car videos? This guy, Mahdad Emadipour, probably played a part in it and now they’ve got one more tool in their toolbox to capture this footage. The Phantom 4 is probably the lowest resolution camera they use but hey, tools are tools and Mahdad is probably a pro at putting all available tools to use.
Wrap Up
Thanks for reading this week! Leave us a comment if you have any questions or would like us to write about any specific waivers next time! If you have a waiver and would like to join us on the show to talk about it and other waivers, drop us a note! Until then…
