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Petition for UAS Exemption for Agricultural Operations

Favicon for www.regulations.gov Regs.gov: Federal Aviation Administration
Published March 30th, 2026
Detected March 30th, 2026
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Summary

A&N Fishback Acres has filed a petition with the FAA seeking exemption under 49 U.S.C. § 44807 and 14 C.F.R. Part 11 to conduct unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) operations for commercial agricultural services. The petition requests authorization to operate drones weighing 55 pounds or more, conduct daytime autonomous operations without an FAA-issued airman medical certificate, and increase operational speed to 50 mph.

What changed

A&N Fishback Acres submitted a petition for exemption to conduct UAS operations under Title 49 U.S.C. § 44807 (special authority for certain unmanned aircraft systems) and 14 C.F.R. Part 11. The petition specifically requests authorization for commercial agricultural-related services using drones weighing 55 pounds or more, including autonomous daytime operations without requiring an FAA-issued airman medical certificate, and seeks approval for increased speed limits up to 50 mph. The filing references previously approved exemptions as templates for the requested relief.

This petition is now posted for public review and comment. Interested parties should file comments through regulations.gov addressing the safety implications of autonomous UAS operations and operations without medical certification requirements. The FAA will review the petition against existing approved exemptions to determine whether to grant, modify, or deny the requested exemptions. No specific compliance deadline is established in this petition filing.

What to do next

  1. Review the petition and attachments on regulations.gov
  2. File public comments if you have safety or operational concerns about autonomous UAS agricultural operations
  3. Monitor FAA determinations on similar exemption petitions for precedent

Source document (simplified)

Comment

Summary Grant Petition for Exemption to Conduct Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Operations Allowed by Special authority for certain unmanned aircraft systems, Title 49 U.S.C. § 44807, and 14 C.F.R. Part 11. Request Commercial Agricultural- Related Services with UAS Weighing 55 Pounds or More for all the Most Recent and Newly Approved Exemptions Available, Including Operations Without an FAA-Issued Airman Medical Certificate for Daytime Autonomous Operations, as well as the Speed Increase to 50 mph.

Attachments 2

44807-letter-template A and N Fishback Acres

Download

confidential-44807-info-template A and N Fishback Acres

Restricted: Confidential Business Information

CFR references

14 CFR 11 49 USC 44807

Named provisions

Special authority for certain unmanned aircraft systems Agricultural-Related Services Exemption Autonomous Operations Provision Medical Certificate Waiver Request

Classification

Agency
FAA
Published
March 30th, 2026
Instrument
Consultation
Legal weight
Non-binding
Stage
Consultation
Change scope
Minor
Document ID
FAA-2026-3569-0001
Docket
FAA-2026-3569-0001

Who this affects

Applies to
Agricultural firms
Industry sector
4811 Air Transportation 1111 Crop Production
Activity scope
UAS Operations Drone Agricultural Services Autonomous Flight Operations
Threshold
UAS operations weighing 55 pounds or more for commercial agricultural services
Geographic scope
United States US

Taxonomy

Primary area
Aviation
Operational domain
Compliance
Topics
Unmanned Aircraft Systems Agriculture

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