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3DR Spektre and IRIS+ get FAA commercial use approval

Posted by Chris Anderson on March 12, 2015 at 4:30pm

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Big news: today the FAA granted Section 333 commercial use authorization for two 3DR vehicles, the IRIS+ and the Spektre (shown above), for use by our customers BNSF and Build Imagery.
There have been several UAVs that use Pixhawk that have been approved before, including the Event 38 and the Falcon Unmanned fixed-wing platforms. But these are the first multicopters, and the first ones made by 3DR. 
And at the core of it all is the APM software stack created by this community. Go team!
Update: BNSF/Spektre approval is here.
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Comments

  • Are Jo Næss June 10, 2015 at 5:05am

    Hi Chris,

    Do you have any more news on the Spektre? Release date, and config? X4/X8 Pixhawk 2? And weight w/battery?

  • desmond13 March 17, 2015 at 8:07am

    amazing news. But why the IRIS+ is not mentioned in the document ? 

  • Todd Graetz March 16, 2015 at 12:07pm

    All - yes, we are very proud of our accomplishment (and thanks to 3DR for their partnership). One thing you may catch in the link Chris sent is that the exemption expires the end of this month. The FAA has since corrected that.

  • Admin
    Morli March 13, 2015 at 11:31am

    congrats

  • Christian Stallings March 13, 2015 at 10:14am

    Bill Bonney,

    I agree in regards to a creative commons version of the operators and training manuals used in the 333. This is the one part of the 333 process that typically isn't made public. Although you can use similar language used in granted 333's this portion currently has to be created by the individual company so there isn't a good road map for it. 

  • Jeff Taylor March 13, 2015 at 9:12am

    Congrats again to the dev teams and 3dr! I can't wait to hear more about the Spektre!

  • Shawn Barney March 13, 2015 at 4:46am

    Way to go 3DR, huge step forward.

  • R. D. Starwalt March 13, 2015 at 3:59am

    BNSF (Railroad owned by Warren Buffet), Build Imagery (Development Videographer).

    Two very different companies with one common need - views from a different perspective.

    It is nice to see technology adoption but, better to see validation of an idea.

    -=Doug

  • Developer
    Bill Bonney March 12, 2015 at 8:53pm
    Interestingly BI applied for Inspire 1 use at the sametime but was rejected. Not sure why? Though weight seems critical as they mentione Iris+ 4 pound in weight being beneficial.

    unless I read it wrong, Only private pilots are allowed to fly it. :-(

    What's interesting is what regulations are dropped to allow exemption. It seems the training manuals and detailed outline of operations seem key for this. It would be good to know from an APM perspective what can be added to help with dropping the private pilots license or another aspect for that requirement.

    Air worthiness requirement was also dropped. Is that because of demonstrated airworthiness, modifications or detailed just because of detailed operations outlined in event of trouble.

    Actually seeing the operators manuals that was sent would be great. And probably help if we had Creative Commons version
  • Gary McCray March 12, 2015 at 7:33pm

    Spektre looks great, looking forward to more details.

This reply was deleted.