AUVSI Submits Official Comments in Support of Yamaha's FAA UAS Petition

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By: Ben Gielow



On 4 August, AUVSI submitted official comments
to the Federal Register supporting Yamaha’s exemption petition to fly
their RMAX helicopter for commercial agriculture purposes.  AUVSI wrote
in its comments:



“There are more than 2,600 RMAX helicopters that have been successfully
and safely operated in Japan, Australia and South Korea for more than 20
years, which have logged more than 2 million flight hours without
anyone being injured. In Japan alone, the RMAX treats more than 2.4
million acres of farmland each year.” 



“Although AUVSI applauds the FAA's efforts to consider UAS exemption
requests AUVSI remains concerned the FAA is more than three years late
in issuing safety regulations for the widespread commercial use of small
UAS.”



On April 8,2014, AUVSI and 32 other association representing the manned
aviation community, air traffic controllers, and future users of UAS,
including agriculture groups, realtors, media organizations, and public
safety organizations, sent a letter to the FAA strongly encouraging them to grant exemptions, but to also expedite the public notice and comment for small UAS rulemaking.



The FAA announced that it also will consider regulatory exceptions for
other commercial applications including power line inspections and flare
stack inspections. AUVSI has submitted comments in support of all of
the exemption petitions to date, including Woolpert’s petition to fly a small UAS for aerial surveying and VDOS Global’s petition to fly around oil platforms for inspections.