Revised Emergency Justification Statement - B4UFLY App

Federal Aviation
Administration

Memorandum
Date:

August 25,20 15

To:

Russ Rutledge, Desk Officer, Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

From:

Peggy Gi ll igan, Associate Administrator for Aviation Safety, AVS- 1

Prepared by:

Erik Amend , Technical Special Assistant, AFS-80, x78282

Subject:

Emergency C learance from OM B for an Information Coll ection Request

a46

Summary
The FAA's Aviation Safety Line of Business (AVS) seeks emergency clearance from the
OMB to collect information from members of the public beta testing the FAA ' s B4UFL Y
smartphone app.
Backgrou nd
The FAA has documented over 675 pilot and law enforcement reports of unmanned aircraft
·events' in 2015. ln comparison, the FAA recei ved 238 of these reports in the entirety of
20 14. This increase in reports, particularly in close prox imity to airports, suggests that many
unmanned aircraft system (UAS) operators are unaware of safety guidelines and policies and
are unaware of the potential hazards these operatio ns may pose to manned ai rcraft operations.
The FAA' s B4UFL Y smartphone app will provide si tuational awareness of flight restrictions
- including locations o f airports, restricted airspace, special use airspaces, and temporary
fl ight restrictions - based on a user's current or plarmed flight location. The risk posed to the
National Airspace System (NAS) by increasingly unsafe UAS operations makes the
immediate release of this app vital. The app is planned for beta release in A ugust 20 15. A VS
requests that OMB provide emergency c learance by the end of August 20 15.
In addition, Public Law 11 2-95, Section 336 requires model aircraft operators to notify the
ai rport operator and ai r traffic control tower (if one is located at the airport) prior to operating
within 5 miles of an airport. Currently, there is no established process to faci litate this
exchange of information. T he B4UFL Y app's initial concept included providing phone
numbers for users to call air traffic control towers (ACTCs) to fulfill this notificat ion
requirement. However, further analysis showed that freq uent calls to an ACTC could disrupt
normal tower fu nctions and possibly create a safety risk. Therefore, the FAA will develop an

2

electronic notification process using funct ionality in the B4UFL Y app. The app is planned
for beta release in August 2015.
Users will not be able to fulfill the statutory requirement for notification using the beta
version of B4UFLY. This initial version will co llect flight data from users, which will help
the FAA develop automated procedures for accomplishing electronic notification when
Version I of B4UFL Y is released to the genera l public (targeted by December 2015).
Electronic notification in thi s manner wi ll ultimately give air traffic personnel real-time
information about potentially unsafe UAS operations around airports, enabling immediate
safety mitigation activities. It will also make notification easier for the public, and thus
increase compliance with the law. No govemment agency has previously collected this type
of infonnation from the model aircraft community.
To ensure that flight safety is not compromised within the U.S. National Airspace System, it
is imperative that the FAA receive approval from the OMB to conduct thi s collection of
information no later than the end of August 20 15. We have reviewed the requirements for
emergency clearance outlined in 5 CFR § 1320. 13 and believe that the situation meets the
criteria outlined therein.