Customised 3-day UAS-INI/UAS OPS

Today small drones are proliferating in the airspace, even over urban areas. The European market was fragmented, because different national rules applied to drones below 150 kg, until 2019. However, the role of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) was extended in 2018 below 150 kg and EASA and common implementing and delegated rules, may enter into force in 2019.

The initial course on European rules for non-military Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS, RPAS; called “drones” by the media) provides the basis to put the emerging common rules on safety in context, which is a pre-requisite to fly drones safely and legally. In fact, also rules on security, enforcement, liability, insurance, privacy and data protection apply.

Regulations for civil use of drones are being developed and implemented at an accelerated pace by ICAO, JARUS, EU and EASA.

The European approach is:

• “operation centric” (i.e. the operator is the responsible entity for safety of operations, even in the absence of a formal type certificate for the aircraft);
• Based on three categories, with a growing level of involvement of the aviation authorities.

The course will also focus on what the operators need to know to legally and safely fly drones for non-military purposes, including limitations in the “open” (A) category of UAS operations, operational risk assessment in “specific” (B) category and RPAS operator certificate in “certified” (C) category. Only the latter is standardised by ICAO when flying internationally.