107/COA Flying for Law Enforcement Agency for SAR

[Nighthawk98TJ]

Hi All,

I am a member of a Sheriff's Office Search and Rescue Unit and we are turning up our UAS program. Our pilots will be 107 certified and we will also have a COA in place. I am looking for some clarification as to whether or not personally owned UAS can be used for official operations under the COA. Are any of you out there in similar situations using personally owned aircraft, or are you exclusively using agency owned aircraft listed on the COA?

Thank you!

 

[sar104]

It all depends on what the COA says - it will need to specify exactly who is qualified to fly, and which aircraft.

 

[BigAl07]

I'm pretty sure to be utilized within a COA the "Agency/Dept" has to own the aircraft. I'll make a request and find out how accurate that statement is and get back to this thread.

 

[sar104]

I'm pretty sure to be utilized within a COA the "Agency/Dept" has to own the aircraft. I'll make a request and find out how accurate that statement is and get back to this thread.

I suspect that's generally the case, but it might be possible to get the FAA to sign off on a COA that permits agency pilots to fly privately owned aircraft, with suitable constraints.

 

[Nighthawk98TJ]

Thank you! That is the indication we are getting, but I wanted to see if there might be a workaround. Using agency-owned aircraft will somewhat limit our capabilities, but we can work with it if necessary.

 

[BigAl07]

I just got t he "official" word lol

To utilize a Public Use COA you have to meet one of two conditions (in regards to Aircraft Ownership):

• A) The Agency/Dept has to outright own the aircraft
• B) The Aircraft Owner has a standing contract with the Dept/Agency to provide the specified services listed in the COA.

 

[Nighthawk98TJ]

OK, thank you! That pretty much seals this one up. I appreciate the help!