14 CFR §107.31
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§107.39
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§107.51
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§107.145
Quantitative safety cases for FAA Part 107 waivers.
Kalman Aero is an engineering consultancy that builds Monte Carlo–based safety analyses, Concepts of Operations, and systems engineering deliverables for BVLOS, operations over people, and beyond-§107 drone operations. Led by a Principal NASA GN&C engineer with program credits on Orion, ISS, and Gateway — applying the same uncertainty-quantification and proximity-safety methods used on human-rated spaceflight and commercial visiting vehicle acceptance.
Engineering services across the drone safety lifecycle.
Kalman Aero delivers ten engineering services spanning FAA waiver support, Part 108 readiness, Part 135 certification, Monte Carlo analysis, and Safety Management System documentation. Each engagement is fixed-price or retainer-based with a written scope agreed before work begins. Prices shown are starting points; complex or multi-site operations receive a custom quote.
Core services
Safety Case Analysis for FAA Part 107 Waivers
Fixed price: starting at $7,500
Turnaround: 3–4 weeks
Deliverable: a written safety case and supporting technical appendix aligned with FAA Part 107 waiver evaluation criteria and JARUS SORA methodology.
- Hazard identification and mitigation analysis for
§107.31BVLOS,§107.39over people,§107.51altitude/speed, and§107.145over moving vehicles. - Probabilistic risk model covering ground and air risk with quantified assumptions.
- Performance-based mitigation arguments tied to your specific ConOps, aircraft, and operating area.
- Cross-references mapped to FAA Order 8040.6 and AC 107-2 evaluation factors.
Operational Volume and Flight Envelope Analysis
Fixed price: starting at $12,500
Turnaround: 4–6 weeks
Deliverable: a technical report defining the operational volume, contingency volume, and ground risk buffer for a specific operation, with Monte Carlo–derived containment probabilities.
- EKF-based state-estimation model of your aircraft under nominal and off-nominal conditions.
- Wind, GPS dropout, and link-loss uncertainty propagation through the trajectory.
- Operational volume and
1-in-10⁶containment buffer sized to your aircraft performance envelope. - Flight-envelope limits justified with quantified margins — ready to attach to a waiver or underwriting file.
Custom Monte Carlo Simulation Development
Fixed price: starting at $22,000
Turnaround: 6–10 weeks
Deliverable: a purpose-built Monte Carlo simulation of your operation, delivered with source code, documentation, and a written analysis of results. Suitable for novel operations, Part 135 submissions, Part 108 readiness, and insurance portfolio review.
- Full uncertainty quantification across aircraft dynamics, environment, sensor, and human-factor variables.
- Ten-thousand–run ensemble output with sensitivity analysis identifying dominant risk drivers.
- Python-based simulation delivered with unit tests and a reproducibility README.
- Written report written to FAA, EASA SORA, or underwriter audience as specified at kickoff.
Concept of Operations (ConOps) Development
Fixed price: starting at $8,500
Turnaround: 3–5 weeks
Deliverable: a complete Concept of Operations document written to FAA, Part 108, or Part 135 standards, suitable for waiver applications, certificate applications, and internal program documentation.
- Mission description, operational environment, and stakeholder analysis.
- Aircraft and subsystem descriptions with interface definitions.
- Normal, contingency, and emergency procedures documented at the level FAA reviewers expect.
- Written to ARP4754A, NASA SE Handbook, and FAA systems engineering conventions.
Extended engineering practice
Safety Management System (SMS) Documentation
Contact for quote · Retainer available
6–12 weeks initial build
Complete SMS documentation package meeting Part 108 compensated-BVLOS requirements, with optional ongoing retainer for audit support and change management.
Systems Engineering and Requirements Analysis
Project-based
varies by scope
Learn more →Systems engineering deliverables from early-phase requirements capture through verification and validation planning, drawing on NASA human-spaceflight SE practice.
Means of Compliance Authorship (Part 108 Airworthiness)
Contact for quote
8–16 weeks
Means of Compliance documentation for drone manufacturers pursuing FAA Airworthiness Acceptance under Part 108, authored against ASTM consensus standards.
Specialist services
Detect and Avoid (DAA) Validation and Test Planning
Starting at $15,000
4–8 weeks
Quantitative DAA performance analysis, validation test planning, and compliance documentation against ASTM F3442 or RTCA DO-365.
Incident Investigation and Technical Expert Support
Hourly or retainer · Contact for quote
engagement-specific
Learn more →Independent technical root cause analysis and expert engineering support for drone incidents, FAA investigations, insurance claims, and litigation.
Part 135 Certification Technical Support
Contact for quote
16–32 weeks
Full technical support for operators pursuing Part 135 air carrier certification for drone operations, working alongside your certification team and FAA POI.
Specialized channels.
Kalman Aero's services are engaged directly by drone operators across the United States. The channels below serve three additional audiences whose engagement structure, procurement path, or use case differs from a standard operator engagement.
For Aviation Law Firms
Kalman Aero works as a technical subcontractor for aviation law firms delivering waiver, exemption, and certificate packages to their clients. The engagement is billed to the firm, deliverables can be branded or unbranded, and attorney-client privilege is preserved throughout. Useful when the FAA requests quantitative analysis that exceeds the firm's in-house capability.
Discuss a subcontracting arrangement →For Aviation Insurers and Underwriters
Novel drone operations often land on underwriting desks without actuarial precedent. Kalman Aero provides retained technical risk review for insurers and MGAs — reviewing submissions, producing standardized quantitative risk assessments, and supporting pricing decisions for BVLOS, Part 137, and Part 108 operations. Monthly retainer arrangements available.
Request a retainer proposal →For Public Agencies and Program Participants
State DOTs, municipal public safety departments, FAA BEYOND program participants, and federally funded research programs engage Kalman Aero for independent quantitative safety analysis on UAS operations with public-interest requirements. Work is structured to fit federal and state procurement conventions, with deliverables formatted for grant reporting and public release where required.
Discuss a public-sector engagement →Why operators choose Kalman Aero.
Human-spaceflight proximity expertise, applied to unmanned aviation.
Kalman Aero is led by a Principal GN&C engineer whose program credits span NASA's Orion/Artemis III crewed lunar vehicle, the International Space Station, and the Gateway lunar outpost. As the ISS Visiting Vehicles GN&C expert, this engineer reviewed and accepted the proximity operations and rendezvous safety cases for commercial and international vehicles, including Dragon, HTV-X, and Axiom, approaching and docking with ISS. The same Monte Carlo, EKF, and uncertainty-quantification methods used in that human-rated proximity work underpin every Kalman Aero analysis.
Fifteen years of aerospace analysis, not aviation paperwork.
Every deliverable is written by an engineer with a master's in Space Systems Engineering from Johns Hopkins and fifteen years of flight-dynamics and risk-analysis experience. No outsourced templating.
Built for FAA and SORA reviewers.
Deliverables map directly to the evaluation factors in FAA Order 8040.6, AC 107-2, and JARUS SORA 2.5. Where the FAA has published performance-based acceptance criteria, Kalman Aero shows the math.
Turnaround measured in weeks, not quarters.
Most safety cases deliver in three to four weeks from kickoff. Operational volume analyses in four to six. Custom simulations in six to ten. Fixed price. Written scope. No surprises.
Engineering rigor, not regulatory advocacy.
Kalman Aero produces the quantitative analysis. You or your counsel own the submission, the narrative, and the relationship with your FSDO. That separation keeps the engineering defensible and keeps you in control.
How the analysis is built.
The methods below are standard practice in human-rated spaceflight. They are uncommon in the drone-waiver market, which more often relies on qualitative hazard lists and narrative mitigation arguments. Both approaches are acceptable to the FAA, but a quantified case is substantially more defensible under reviewer scrutiny — particularly for novel operations.
Monte Carlo simulation.
Each operation is modeled as a stochastic process. Aircraft dynamics, wind, sensor noise, link latency, pilot response, and failure modes are each represented as probability distributions. Ten thousand or more simulated missions are run to produce containment probabilities, time-to-ground distributions, and ground-risk exposure — quantities the FAA can evaluate directly.
Extended Kalman Filter state estimation.
For operations sensitive to GPS dropout, link degradation, or sensor fusion performance, an EKF model predicts how aircraft state uncertainty grows during the operation. This defines contingency volumes with a quantified margin rather than an engineering guess. This is the same technique applied operationally to assess ISS visiting vehicle proximity navigation performance across multiple commercial and international docking missions.
Uncertainty quantification.
Every input to the analysis is documented with its assumed distribution, its source, and its sensitivity rank. The resulting uncertainty envelope is propagated through the full model so the output confidence interval is explicit — not buried.
Flight-envelope analysis.
Aircraft performance is characterized across the full range of commanded states. The operating envelope is then defined with margin against loss-of-control boundaries, derived from the same techniques used for aircraft flight-test planning.
From first call to delivered analysis.
Discovery call (30 min, no cost).
You describe the operation, the regulatory target, and the deadline. We confirm whether Kalman Aero is the right fit.
Written scope and fixed-price proposal (within 3 business days).
A one-page proposal with assumptions, deliverables, timeline, and price. Nothing starts until it is signed.
Analysis (3–10 weeks depending on service).
One mid-engagement review call. Questions answered in writing as they arise.
Delivery, one revision round, and 60-day Q&A support.
You receive the deliverable, one revision cycle, and written responses to FAA or underwriter follow-up questions for sixty days after delivery.
Questions drone operators ask.
Does Kalman Aero guarantee my waiver is approved?
No — and be skeptical of anyone who does. The FAA makes the final determination. What Kalman Aero delivers is a quantitative safety case built to the evaluation factors the FAA has published, which materially improves the strength of the submission.
How is Kalman Aero different from a drone law firm?
A law firm writes the legal and regulatory narrative of your application. Kalman Aero writes the engineering analysis that backs that narrative up. Many operators engage both. The two roles are complementary, not substitutable.
What does an engagement actually cost?
Services start at $7,500 for a Part 107 safety case, $12,500 for operational volume analysis, and $22,000 for a custom Monte Carlo simulation. Multi-site, Part 135, and enterprise engagements are quoted individually, typically $30,000 to $150,000-plus. Every engagement is fixed-price, written, and agreed before work begins.
How long does a typical engagement take?
Most safety cases deliver in 3–4 weeks from kickoff, operational volume analyses in 4–6 weeks, and custom simulations in 6–10 weeks. Rush engagements are accepted subject to capacity at a 25% surcharge.
What information do you need from me to start?
Your ConOps narrative, aircraft make and model with any available performance data, intended operating area, and the specific waiver section or regulatory pathway you are targeting. A kickoff checklist is shared when the proposal is signed.
Is my information kept confidential?
Yes. A mutual NDA is signed before any ConOps, aircraft data, or proprietary information is shared. Kalman Aero does not publish client names or operation details without written permission.
Do you work outside the United States?
Yes. Deliverables can be written to the JARUS SORA framework used by EASA, the UK CAA, and Transport Canada. Engagement scope is adjusted accordingly.
Start with a 30-minute call.
The best way to evaluate fit is a short call. Bring your ConOps, your waiver target, and your timeline. You will leave the call with a clear read on whether Kalman Aero is the right team and what an engagement would look like. No obligation, no pitch deck.
Direct email.
contact@kalmanaero.com — for scoping questions, document review, or NDA exchange before a call.
What happens next.
You pick a time. You receive a short pre-call questionnaire. We speak for 30 minutes. Within three business days, you receive a written fixed-price proposal if the work is a fit.
Response time.
Email and Calendly requests are acknowledged within one business day.