Waiver Watch | Ep 32: BVLOS and Acceleration
Welcome to Waiver Watch!
It’s a jam packed week of waivers at the FAA! Here is the agenda for this Episode 32:
Weekly totals
SafeAir Mavic or Phantom - which is more popular?
107W-2020-02842 - Zipline, Inc
107W-2020-02790 - State Farm
Weekly Waiver Totals
June 11 - 17, 2020 saw 42 waivers approved:
37 - Daylight Operations (107.29)
2 - Operations Over Human beings (107.39)
ParaZero SafeAir Mavic & Phantom parachutes
1 - High Altitude (107.51(b))
2 - Complex waivers including BVLOS and Ops Over Human Beings
Approval numbers continue to climb while California and Colorado take home the most waivers this week with 4 a piece.
Mavic or Phantom??
What is more popular, the ParaZero SafeAir Mavic system or ParaZero SafeAir Phantom system? The results are in!
SafeAir Mavic!
107W-2020-02842 - Zipline, Inc
Zipline, Inc is gathering momentum with another complex waiver this week. This waiver comes approximately a month after the Novant Health waiver that enabled Novant Health and Zipline’s aircraft to deliver PPE on the longest drone delivery route approved to date. Read more in Episode 28 if you missed it.
This week’s approval is for internal testing and builds upon a previous waiver approved in 2019. The waiver allows:
Day or night operations
Operations BVLOS of the RPIC and VO (but there still must be one or more Visual Observers present to monitor the airspace)
Operation of up to 30 sUA simultaneously (this is a lot!). Their previous waiver in 2019 only allowed simultaneous operations of 5 sUA so this is quite an increase.
At their test location in - 24445 County Road 25, Esparto, California
As with all complex waivers, there are number of provisions speaking to company maturity that must be in place:
A General Operations Manual must be adhered to
Training above that required for standard Part 107 operations is required
An SMS appropriate for size, scope, and complexity must be adhered to
Recordkeeping must be conducted for reporting to the FAA
And many more..
Zipline, Inc continues their progress on Type Certification as well and this waiver is a nod from the FAA to keep slowly expanding their operational envelope.
107W-2020-02790 - State Farm
This week, State Farm updates the Responsible Person on their senseFLY eBee waiver. This waiver has a long history and is part of State Farm’s post-storm damage assessment program. Here is an article from the initial program approval.
The waiver allows:
Operations BVLOS of the RPIC and VO (but there still must be one or more Visual Observers present to monitor the airspace)
This is a very common theme for BVLOS lately!
Operation of the senseFLY eBee and eBee Plus
Operation over human beings
How did State Farm get this? They conducted their own testing of the two eBee platforms to determine that they would not seriously injure or kill a person on the ground during an impact.
Operation would typically be conducted in a post-storm damaged area where there are minimal persons or moving vehicles present.
The waiver does not indicate approval to operate over moving vehicles - somewhat interesting..
Acceleration?
We’re starting to see waiver approval numbers climb up and lately there have been some very advanced approvals given to companies in formal FAA programs like the IPP, PSP, or UAS Test Sites.
Maybe COVID-19 didn’t slow the drone industry down at all and we’re seeing some acceleration?
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…
