Drones in Agriculture: FAA 107 vs. FAA 137 Certifications
David: Hi everyone! David Plummer and Michael Ferguson from Aerial Influence here with Blog 5 of Season 3 where we are focusing on drones in agriculture. Today we’re discussing the difference between the FAA 107 license and the FAA 137 license. Michael actually went through the process of obtaining our FAA 137, which gives us the ability to do what, Michael?
Michael: Essentially the 137 license allows agricultural spraying and agricultural operations. There is no real certificate for drone and drone spraying. So right now we have to apply for the manned aviation license and ask for exemptions. That's what the 137 allows you to do — agricultural drone spraying. In order to be approved for that you have to petition for it, and that's something we help with. The exemption process is because you're exempting certain things — for example, in a manned plane you have seatbelts but with a drone, nobody's flying. So there's certain things that you have to get an exemption for. Basically what the FAA wants to see is, can you operate this drone equal in safety to a manned flight, or better?
David: We've had the FAA come out a couple of times to talk to us.
Michael: We have been there to the local flight center district office. We applied for the 137. After that, the FAA makes a visit. In our case, we had more of a commercial operation. So you can apply for a private operation where you're just flying for your farm. In our case, it was commercial, so they wanted to see the office. They wanted to see if we could get up in the air with the drone. Let's pretend something happened, and you have to land right now. Can you land it right now? You're essentially showing that you are proficient at flying.
David: It's understandable because you're talking about, when it's fully loaded, either a 55-pound or a 90-plus pound drone, depending on which one, flying through the air. If that hits something, it will cause some major damage. We understand the concern from people about drones spraying anything. There are people who are really concerned about that happening.
Michael: If you're using a restricted use pesticide, that's something that is much more concentrated than what you would find at the store. You couldn't buy that at Home Depot. You need a license certificate for using restricted use pesticides as well. There are multiple considerations. There's the 107, the 137 and then there's an applicator's license — many things you have to think about through this process.
David: You have to check a lot of boxes and that's why we're here. That's part of the reason why we went through the process, so that we knew which boxes had to be checked. Not only are we here to help you figure out what drone is right for you, but we're also here to help you get through the process of becoming legal to make sure that you're doing things the right way so that you're not going to run into any issues down the road.
Michael: So we can obviously just sell drones. We can do consultations, but we also have a template that we walk through with our customers. We discuss, what do you want to do as far as spraying or spreading? We take their input on what they want to be able to accomplish, and we help them complete and submit a petition to the FAA in Washington, D.C. for approval.
David: Then at some point the customer will receive their approved petition and they are ready to go. Applying for these licenses is such an interesting process. This is an exciting time, and I think the future of drones will only continue to grow.In our last blog of season 3, we're going to be talking about something special that Aerial Influence is offering, in-person or online. Stay tuned — you don’t want to miss this one!