Anyone have a 107.51(c) and (d) COA?

[Aerial Edge]

Just wondering. I ran into an issue today I had not really thought about. We were called out for a storm response and were unable to fly due to Visibility and ceiling requirements. Of course their helicopters could not fly as well. I have now sent in for a COA on this, it seems there may be a lot of restrictions but I tried to get enough to do the job that is required in emergency response to the utility company.

The Sample approved COA that the FAA has available was mentioning 24 hour notice for NOTAM. During storm response that would not seem possible. I tried to word the document the best I could based on the information that would be given to me.

We had a window to fly before visual precipitation came. We were well above freezing, but Visability was 2 miles and ceiling was 400foot. Needed to inspect 40-80 foot structures for damage.

As you can see it was a heck of a storm. Air temp at 39 so I was not too concerned about icing on the blades. I have no doubt about being able to accomplish the mission at hand safely and provide the air support they needed since the helos could not fly.

We will see what the FAA says about it.

 

[SanCap]

FYI, icing can happen at 39°.

 

[Aerial Edge]

FYI, icing can happen at 39°.

Yes it can, Although I am less concerned at 39 degrees of rapid Icing then I would be at 35 degrees. I have not experienced icing yet, but normally keep flights short when super cold and conditions are prime for icing. Of course yesterday the humidity was close to 95% and the low ceiling height and limited visibility added other factors. We fly in really cold weather a lot, usually when it is cold and high humidity we do a close short flight and check the props to make sure we should be good to go. Best to be safe rather then sorry for sure. Thank you for mentioning that. Others may not be aware the negative pressure from the lift of the prop can cause temperature drops and lead to icing on the props.

 

[BigAl07]

What about utilizing SGI if it's a genuine Emergency Response?

Prop Icing is a very real issue especially with temps below 40deg. Someone was just talkin about this on FB over the weekend and I was shocked how many people had actually not only experienced it but had taken pics to document it.

 

[Aerial Edge]

What about utilizing SGI if it's a genuine Emergency Response?

Prop Icing is a very real issue especially with temps below 40deg. Someone was just talkin about this on FB over the weekend and I was shocked how many people had actually not only experienced it but had taken pics to document it.That

That is an option. This is my full time job, I am a Pilot for them. I do not have access to drone zone for our Organization, nor am I authorized to file paperwork with the FAA for them. It surprises me that we have the Emergency contract to provide response teams and do not have an existing COA. I am out of the loop as far as that goes. The COA I have filed is for my Business, I have an MOA for providing emergency storm response for some of the smaller utilities that are not interested in having multi million dollar contracts with large service providers. Inevitably visible mist would have precluded flights yesterday since the data would not have been good and although the M210 should handle it, the Z30 we use cannot. Either way it made me think about my own operations and get motivated to do some more research. I was unaware about SGI's until last night, and yes this would have qualified no doubt. Since they did not need us to fly today I have spent my holiday watching webinars on the SGI process and getting my paperwork in order to do this process if ever called upon.

 

[miturnbo]

SGI is the way to go. Once it’s submitted you will get a very quick response. If something isn’t right they will call you and advise about why it was denied and give you the opportunity to ask questions about how you can get the approval. For example maybe it’s denied because the requested flight area is too close to controlled airspace so you could adjust the requested area and get the approval.

When I got approval to fly in the Lake Charles area following the hurricane it was denied because of the time range since AF1 was flying in that day and we were in the red circle. I adjusted the time and was approved.
Trump did fly in too. Right over the top of us. That was cool!

 

[Aerial Edge]

Thats cool.

 

[Aerial Edge]

Still waiting on a response from the FAA on my 2 waivers that were submitted Feb 14th. We will see how long before they either approve, deny, or request additional information.