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Crossville Tn Pd acquires an Inspire 2

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Some time back I was flying a Phantom in the area and had a couple of officers as curious spectators.
Did a little flying with one of them three or four times. He told me that experience led to department interest in the technology.
It will be interesting to see how much action it gets.

Crossville Police Department introduced its newly acquired DJI Inspire V2 aerial drone system to select guests Friday with a demonstration of the unit’s capabilities. The drone is a two-person deployment system, combining a pilot and a spotter that will enable CPD to respond to major incidents with unprecedented tools. The drone will be used in search and rescue missions as well as aerial photography of major crime scenes or traffic crashes. The unit is equipped with a high definition and infrared camera. Lt. Brian Eckelson said the drone system should go into service in about 90 days and that Det. Donnie Hammons will be the contact for the drone.
 
Nice.

We have family from Dayton, Spring City, and Grandview. I occasionally fly out on Grandview when we go up there to visit. I am in Soddy Daisy.
 
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Your first post notes a Demonstration of the units capabilities. With that statement I know they are flying illegally without a COA. The FAA does not allow demonstrations under any COA they issue. It is either training or operational. So you might want to let them know they need do the following prior to flight: Register the drone with the FAA (tail number), apply for training COA, will take about 6 months if they know what they are doing. Then apply for operational COA which will take another 3 or 4 months, then have the FAA site visit. and then you are legal. If they would like some help with the process I would be glad to assist them. We have gone through the process.

I also would like to note that all of their jurisdiction is within 5NM of Crossville Memorial Airport so all their pilots must be a certificated pilot in order to fly there. It is also not Class G airspace, it is Class E. Harder to get a COA than for G. Just FYI.
 
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Thanks.
Not directly connect with this and really have no idea of what they have or have not done, but have had some contact with one officer.
It is my understanding he is somewhat knowledgeable and that they are aware of the situation.
They put bids out and purchased from a firm in Nashville. I would hope they would have been properly informed of what they needed to do.
It is noted that it will not be operational for 90 days, so perhaps preparations are being made.
 
Working for a Utility company and having an I1 for use in line inspection, right of ways and substation IR temp readings on transformers, I too thought that I would have to have a COA since the utility is a municipality. While contacting the FAA about this, I started the process and sent a letter to them with information pertaining to our role as local government, the same as a police department would be. Once the letter was received by the FAA, and their lawyers looked it over they could not place us in the COA arena using the current rules that govern requirements for government entities. They then said to apply for the 333 exemption. My argument with them was that we will not be using it within a commercial environment and will be used only on our right of ways and property, for safety of our employees while doing line inspections after a storm and to increase response time and prevent outages. Still waiting for some information on that. I understand that the police are a whole lot different than we are but according to what I found out I would say that the police may fit into the same area that we do.

....B
 
Law enforcement does not require a COA, 333, anything. They are not subject to FAA regulations. The FAA only has jurisdiction over civil aircraft.

Mike
 
Mike;

You may want to do a search on "49 U.S. Code § 40125 - Qualifications for public aircraft status".

...B
 
Law enforcement does not require a COA, 333, anything. They are not subject to FAA regulations. The FAA only has jurisdiction over civil aircraft.

Mike
Mike,

You are wrong. There is nothing else to say on that matter. The FAA has jurisdiction over all aircraft in the NAS.
 
Working for a Utility company and having an I1 for use in line inspection, right of ways and substation IR temp readings on transformers, I too thought that I would have to have a COA since the utility is a municipality. While contacting the FAA about this, I started the process and sent a letter to them with information pertaining to our role as local government, the same as a police department would be. Once the letter was received by the FAA, and their lawyers looked it over they could not place us in the COA arena using the current rules that govern requirements for government entities. They then said to apply for the 333 exemption. My argument with them was that we will not be using it within a commercial environment and will be used only on our right of ways and property, for safety of our employees while doing line inspections after a storm and to increase response time and prevent outages. Still waiting for some information on that. I understand that the police are a whole lot different than we are but according to what I found out I would say that the police may fit into the same area that we do.

....B

I would bet that since they see the utility company being paid for a product (energy) that it puts them in the commercial side thus needing the 333. All law enforcement must get a COA. There is no 333 for any governmental agency.
 
Since the utility is owned by the city, it is part of the local government, like the city police or sheriff's department. Thus the reason why we had to send a public declaration letter to the FAA listing the statutes/charters/codes to prove the utilities public status. With that letter we had to chose the qualification under the statutory sections of Title 49 USC 40102(a)(41)(C) and/or (D) and abide by the prohibitions found in 40125(b) concerning commercial purposes. This requirement states that the government entity would not conduct operations for compensation or hire. Their own statutes states that we can not be compensated or go out for hire. Telling us to get a 333 defeats that whole statue. As a public utility we can not hire out any piece of equipment or expertise if it does not pertain to the utilities daily working environment! The FAA just does not know where public utilities will fit with UAS's that are less than 55 pounds.

...B
 
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