FAA COA
12-02-2009, 10:40 PM
#27
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RE: FAA COA
because I still do not know how this site works-I thought that when I got a email informing of a message on this site that the message was directed to me-but now I see that I am just be alerted that someone has just posted a statement to everyone and anyoneNow there is no need for me to look at the site when I get an email
Hope you find an answer to your question
be safe\\
gunz
Hope you find an answer to your question
be safe\\
gunz
12-02-2009, 11:53 PM
#28
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RE: FAA COA
The FAA COA process is for those flying for hire whether it is autonomous or not. Unfortunately, the FAA will not consider a COA for any private or commercial organization. Only public organizations are eligible. So much for the Mike Myers (lvspark) suggestion that I have one for a commercial flight school. Still stirring that five year old pot Mike? Why don't you find something usefull to do?
My first contract has gone well and the organization I am supporting will apply for a follow-on COA with less restrictions. I have been told that will mean a follow-on contract. Hopefully, this process and the evaluation reports to the FAA will help move the regulatory process along. It would be nice if I could eliminate the non-disclosure clause in the next contract. I could then go into more detail.
Regards, John Zaner
www.zaneraviation.com
My first contract has gone well and the organization I am supporting will apply for a follow-on COA with less restrictions. I have been told that will mean a follow-on contract. Hopefully, this process and the evaluation reports to the FAA will help move the regulatory process along. It would be nice if I could eliminate the non-disclosure clause in the next contract. I could then go into more detail.
Regards, John Zaner
www.zaneraviation.com
01-13-2010, 08:11 PM
#29
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RE: FAA COA
The upcoming FAA regulation for SUAS is going to be pretty cool but you will have to belly up if you want to fly commercially. Hobbyists can relax a bit but the rest of us will have some work to do.
No autonomous for the forseeable future but it looks like autopilot will be permitted as long as it is within visual range. I like that for reducing Pilot in Command workload, especially when orbiting offset waypoints. My next contract is about to get underway and I will be using this technique a lot.
Regards, John
No autonomous for the forseeable future but it looks like autopilot will be permitted as long as it is within visual range. I like that for reducing Pilot in Command workload, especially when orbiting offset waypoints. My next contract is about to get underway and I will be using this technique a lot.
Regards, John
01-20-2010, 12:51 PM
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RE: FAA COA
My customers are law enforcement and they are starting to submit quick turnaround ECOAs (Emergency Certificates of Authorization) for some real world missions. They have logged 370 evaluation flights under heavy restriction without incident and are now ready to spread their wings a bit.
In addition to the 370 flights the three officers involved have all attended the FAA Private Pilot Ground School, they have all passed the 2nd Class Medical, and two of them have completed their Private Pilot training and are certified SEL pilots. Without these qualifications they would never have gotten off the ground in the SUAS world.
John
In addition to the 370 flights the three officers involved have all attended the FAA Private Pilot Ground School, they have all passed the 2nd Class Medical, and two of them have completed their Private Pilot training and are certified SEL pilots. Without these qualifications they would never have gotten off the ground in the SUAS world.
John
01-24-2010, 10:49 PM
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RE: FAA COA
A little more useful information. The new regulation will progably allow autopilots but not for autonomous flight. They will be used in line-of-sight flying only. The FAA also seems to be frowning on the use of open source autopilots opting for something commercial off-the-shelf. I think this is a carryover from the manned aircraft world.
It seems that the airframe certification process is going to be handled by the end user. Kind of like the experimental class where the FAA does not get into whether the vehicle can fly or not. You, the end user, can kill yourself in it if you want to. The FAA is only interested in protecting people and property so they restrict your flying to areas where you cannot hurt anything until the craft has proven itself. This is the way they have handled my customer under their current COA.
My take is that the end user should be responsible for the certification of the entire SUAS, not just the airframe. The electronics and the ground station must be certified and will be the source of considerable confusion in the marketplace if these elements must be certified another way. I think that open source should not be an issue and could be certified by the end user as part of the SUAS.
I am currently using commercial, off-the-shelf autopilots and am not satisfied with them at all. Don't get me wrong, they perform perfectly as designed but just do not support all of my customer requirements. I will surely have no luck in getting the manufacturer of these units to change the code to meet these needs so I am driven to open source. My experience with several of the open source units have shown them to be just as reliable as the off-the-shelf variety as long as professional code design and programming standards are adhered to.
I will keep pressing. My previous contact in the SUAS Program Office at Hq FAA retired after we worked together for five years. I now have a new contact and the relationship is moving along. It takes a while to develop trust on both sides.
Regards, John
It seems that the airframe certification process is going to be handled by the end user. Kind of like the experimental class where the FAA does not get into whether the vehicle can fly or not. You, the end user, can kill yourself in it if you want to. The FAA is only interested in protecting people and property so they restrict your flying to areas where you cannot hurt anything until the craft has proven itself. This is the way they have handled my customer under their current COA.
My take is that the end user should be responsible for the certification of the entire SUAS, not just the airframe. The electronics and the ground station must be certified and will be the source of considerable confusion in the marketplace if these elements must be certified another way. I think that open source should not be an issue and could be certified by the end user as part of the SUAS.
I am currently using commercial, off-the-shelf autopilots and am not satisfied with them at all. Don't get me wrong, they perform perfectly as designed but just do not support all of my customer requirements. I will surely have no luck in getting the manufacturer of these units to change the code to meet these needs so I am driven to open source. My experience with several of the open source units have shown them to be just as reliable as the off-the-shelf variety as long as professional code design and programming standards are adhered to.
I will keep pressing. My previous contact in the SUAS Program Office at Hq FAA retired after we worked together for five years. I now have a new contact and the relationship is moving along. It takes a while to develop trust on both sides.
Regards, John
