AgEagle Aerial Systems’ eBEE X series of fixed wing unmanned aircraft systems (“UAS”), including the eBEE X, eBEE GEO and eBEE TAC, are the first US drones to comply with Category 3 of the Operations of Small Unmanned Aircraft System (“sUAS”) Over People rules published in the Federal Register by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in March 2021, says the company press release.
Securing a Part 107 certificate of waiver from the FAA is a long, arduous and costly process for sUAS users. Now that the eBEE has proven compliant with Category 3 of the rules, eBEE drone operators no longer require an FAA waiver for OOP or Operations Over Moving Vehicles. This milestone has been achieved by AgEagle following months of work, historic reliability review and extensive testing conducted by Virginia Tech Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership (MAAP) based on the Means of Compliance MAAP has developed, and which is accepted as proof of compliance by the FAA.
“Having an aircraft approved to operate over people will fundamentally change the way drone operations can be planned and conducted in the US,” said Tombo Jones, director of the Virginia Tech Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership. “When the FAA published the rule, it identified a clear-cut pathway to a goal that all of us in drone integration have been working towards for a long time; this approval demonstrates that pathway is viable. Our testing reflects years of expertise that we’ve built in evaluating the risk of drone operations, and we’re proud that it could play a role in making this milestone possible.”
The eBEE is currently approved for use the US Department of Defense pursuant to the Blue sUAS 2.0 programme, for BVLOS operations in Brazil, and OOP and BVLOS operations in Canada. It also received C2 certification in Europe, complying with European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) regulations.
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