FAA Tells YouTuber His Human-Carrying YiVTOL Drone Breaks Ultralight Rules

Jimmy, who hosts the YouTube channel Jimmy's World, said in a video published Wednesday that the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has told him the YiVTOL S-Zero Plus, a human-carrying electric aircraft, does not qualify as a legal ultralight. His earlier flight video, filmed at a dealer's property in Tennessee, has drawn 3.3 million views. Jimmy does not name who at the agency spoke to him, and the only document he cites is an FAA letter on battery weight.

Three objections

According to Jimmy, the FAA raised three issues. First, battery weight counts toward the 254-pound (115-kilogram) empty weight limit that Part 103, the US rule governing ultralights, sets. Second, the dealer's remote-control training mode would make the aircraft a drone rather than an ultralight. Third, Part 103 bars flights over congested areas and crowds regardless.

The weight question

The FAA's Office of the Chief Counsel ruled on September 4, 2012, in a letter to Rainbow Aviation Services, that batteries in electric ultralights count toward the empty weight. Its reasoning: fuel burns off during flight, while a battery weighs the same charged or depleted.

Dealer Brett Rayburn of CloudRider865 says the aircraft sells for $98,000 and flies under Part 103, which requires no pilot certificate or registration. Jimmy estimates each battery on the larger S-Zero Max at 50 to 60 pounds, and the Plus carries two. YiVTOL's specification page gives no empty weight, and Rayburn said on camera only that the aircraft is "under the weight limit of 254", without saying whether batteries are included.

The S-Zero Max's experimental route

The S-Zero Max that Jimmy filmed at Sarasota Avionics is being fitted with an ADS-B transponder and GPS antennas so that its owner can seek an N-number, a US aircraft registration, and fly it as an experimental aircraft. It has not flown yet because the FAA has not cleared it.