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FAA SGI Addendum

SGI Addendum (formerly called Emergency COAs). Public and, in select cases, civil UAS operations may need to be conducted to support activities which answer significant and urgent governmental interests, including national defense, homeland security, law enforcement, and emergency operations objectives. In the event that these operations cannot be supported by the FAA's regular Certificate of Waiver or Authorization (COA) processes due to their exigent circumstances, they may be conducted under the authority of a COA addendum or Part 107 authorizations/waivers granted through the SGI process managed by System Operations Security. The FAA may apply this process if the following conditions are met:

a. The proponent must be operating under the authority of an active COA (including Blanket COAs) or in compliance with Part 107, as determined by System Operations Security.

b. The UAS operations to be authorized must be conducted within a timeframe incompatible with the processing time required for regular COA or Part 107 processes, as determined by System Operations Security.

c. The requested operations must be flown by a governmental entity or sponsored/supported by a governmental entity (i.e., the operation is to be flown at the request of or is specifically supported by a governmental entity) as determined by System Operations Security.

d. The operations must directly support an active (e.g., not demonstration) homeland security, law enforcement, or emergency operations effort, or some other response, relief, or recovery activity benefiting a critical public good – for example, restoration of an electrical grid or some other critical infrastructure, or media coverage. The fulfillment of this requirement is determined by System Operations Security in consultation, as needed, with the FAA's interagency partners.

Special Governmental Interest Addendum Processing Part 91 or Part 107 authorization/waiver. This section prescribes the procedures regarding the processing of requests for addendums to active COAs or Part 107 authorizations/waivers through the expedited SGI process.

a. Requests.

1) Qualifying proponents of public UAS operations should contact the System Operations Support Center (SOSC), a component of System Operations Security, at (202) 267-8276 for assistance. A backup request should be sent to the SOSC via email at: 9-ator-hq-sosc@faa.gov.

2) Qualifying proponents of civil UAS operations must:

  1. Secure support from a governmental entity participating in the response relief, or recovery effort, to which the proposed UAS operations will contribute;
  2. Contact the SOSC at (202) 267-8276 for assistance; and
  3. Send a backup request to the SOSC via email at 9-ator-hq-sosc@faa.gov.

3) Requests should be initiated with the SOSC as far in advance as practicable.

4) Proponents must provide justification sufficient to show the standard COA or Part 107 authorization/waiver process is not feasible. (e.g., urgent need to fly a response mission within 14 days or less).

b. Processing and Coordination.

  1. Once the request is received, System Operations Security will conduct a review of the proposed operation and determine any amendments necessary to the current COA requirements (e.g., operating area, altitudes, class of airspace, transponder usage) or any authorizations or waivers under the Part 107 processes.
  2. System Operations Security will determine if the request meets all necessary SGI criteria.
  3. System Operations Security will coordinate with affected ATC facilities and determine and implement any needed mitigations (e.g., the application of Temporary Flight Restrictions) to reach an acceptable level of safety risk and to minimize impacts on other air traffic operations.
  4. These mitigations and other authorizations, including deviations from the operator's current COA or Part 107 authorization or waiver, will be implemented through COA addendum or Part 107 authorization/waiver, and other operational measures - e.g., coordinated ATC action and/or the application of Temporary Flight Restrictions.

A summary of the FAA's SGI Addendum is available.

Last updated: Monday, October 30, 2017