United States Department of the Interior
Office of Aviation Services
300 E Mallard Drive, Suite 200
DOI OPERATIONAL PROCEDURES MEMORANDUM (OPM) - 11
Subject: DOI Use of Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS)
Effective Date: January 1, 2023
Last Updated: December 2, 2022
Expiration: December 31, 2023
1. Summary of Changes.
Added language to include provisions of Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Safety,
Resource Protection, and Emergency Services Memorandum “Updated Uncrewed Aircraft
Systems (UAS) operations and procurement policy” dated 10/21/2022, changed terms from
Emergency Certificate of Authorization (ECOA) to Special Governmental Interest Certificate
of Authorization (SGI COA) to reflect the change to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
procedures, changed the term “unmanned aircraft system” to “uncrewed aircraft system’, and
changed periodic UAS inspection period to 12 months instead of 24 months. Added
requirement for a functional flight test of systems during the annual inspection and clarified
flight use reporting procedures for DOI remote pilots operating United States Forest Service
(USFS) UAS. Added length of assignment limitations of 14 or 21 days for remote pilots,
reduced the number of possible endorsements on the OAS-30U, and added the ability for a
UAS evaluator pilot to work with expired remote pilots to regain currency. Added a section
delineating training roles for UAS inspectors, instructors, and evaluators, included including
updated Department of Homeland Security (DHS) best practices for commercial UAS
operations and updated links to various documents in the appendix.
2. Purpose.
The purpose of this OPM is to provide DOI with a policy on the operations and management
of Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) within the Department of the Interior and on
Department of Interior-managed lands and waters.
