First drone company in Lexington receives FAA clearance for commercial flight
Lexington, Ky. – Unmanned Services, Inc. – a locally owned drone operating company offering aerial photography and video services – has received a Federal Aviation Administration exemption for the commercial use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS, or drones). With this distinction, Unmanned Services, Inc. (USI) and its pilots are the only Lexington-based company sanctioned to operate UAVs.
The exemption allows USI to provide a full suite of drone aerial services to businesses in industries such as real estate, land assessment, utilities, emergency management, agriculture, media and other sectors.
“This is great news for our company, but it’s really great news for Lexington and the Bluegrass region,” USI CEO Manfred Marotta said. “For the first time businesses in the area have access to legal, FAA-approved drone services. We’re really looking forward to showing business owners, in a wide range of industries, what we can do for them.”
The FAA is approving exemptions requests on a case-by-case basis until detailed national regulations are finalized. While current exemptions are more rigorous than the final rules are expected to be, the current regulations – such as restrictions on altitude and proximity to airports – do outline safety and operational protocols that approved companies are required to follow.
USI began the application process in March of 2015, however the company has been heavily investing in researching, developing and testing the technology to support a whole host of industries and customers in anticipation of the FAA green light to conduct business. USI also happens to the first Kentucky Company approved to commercially fly for a full suite of industries covering the most use cases rather than for just one or two uses as are typically applied for by other companies requesting the FAA exemption.
USI’s senior management have nearly 30 years of combined drone experience in both the Army and Navy where they gained extensive knowledge in evolving drone and UAV operations and technology along with operations in the private sector.
Along with their business operations, being responsible stewards of an emerging industry and educating the public about drone use, especially with privacy and safety concerns, are priorities for Marotta and USI President of Operations Chris Stiles. “We believe in full disclosure and will always be more than happy to explain what we are doing if we happen to be flying near you and will even give you the raw video we collected if you believe we may have violated your privacy,” Stiles said.
For more information about Unmanned Services Inc., visit www.unmannedservicesinc.com.
