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VIRTUAL COURSE

UAS-SOC (Societal Concerns on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS))

Introduction

Today small drones are proliferating in the airspace, even over urban areas letting societal concerns to arise. The European market was fragmented, and different national rules applied to drone safety below 150kg applied in the past. Therefore, the role of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) was extended to create a common framework for implementing and delegated safety rules (applicable since 31 Dec 2020) on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) below 150kg.

However, society may have several concerns, beyond safety, around the use of non-military UAS mentioned also in recitals to EASA Basic Regulation 2018/1139. This training expands the context of emerging common rules on drones to include security, environment, enforcement, liability, insurance, privacy and data protection. Operations in all these domains are affected by EU provisions (not necessarily originated by EASA) which this training seeks to explore.

The course breaks down into four parts:

  1. Societal concerns and highlights on environmental aspects, namely noise
  2. Security, enforcement and drone countermeasures
  3. Liability and insurance
  4. Privacy and data protection

The content of the lectures is taught over the course duration of two days, including several exercises or group discussions and 1 hour for the final examination.

The lectures comprise:

  • Course introduction and objectives
  • Why drones represent a disruptive innovation and consequences
  • Security, registration, identification, enforcement, drone countermeasures and sanctions
  • Essential requirements and related industry standards for environmental protection
  • Privacy and data protection based on Regulation 2016/679 (GDPR)
  • Liability and insurance based on Regulation 785/2004

Course Content

After completing the course participants should be able to:

  • Describe the aspects of drones related to security and enforcement, which include cyber- and network-security, but also the operator’s responsibilities related to physical security of airborne and ground assets, security of the operating area and security of personnel, as well as possible basic elements of security management.
  • List the means which can be used to better protect society from the threat represented by drones, such as awareness, registration, electronic identification, countermeasures, geo-fencing and enforcement.
  • Explain the essential requirements for environmental compatibility of drones and related emerging industry standards.
  • Identify the means and procedures for fulfilling the UAS operator obligations for privacy and data protection.
  • Determine the obligation of the UAS operator for liability and insurance.

Learning Objectives

After completing the course participants should be able to:

  • Describe the aspects of drones related to security and enforcement, which include cyber- and network-security, but also the operator’s responsibilities related to physical security of airborne and ground assets, security of the operating area and security of personnel, as well as possible basic elements of security management.
  • List the means which can be used to better protect society from the threat represented by drones, such as awareness, registration, electronic identification, countermeasures, geo-fencing and enforcement.
  • Explain the essential requirements for environmental compatibility of drones and related emerging industry standards.
  • Identify the means and procedures for fulfilling the UAS operator obligations for privacy and data protection.
  • Determine the obligation of the UAS operator for liability and insurance.

Who should take this course

Aviation professionals concerned with the emerging common EU rules for non-military drones in several domains. The course may be relevant for:

  • Managers, rulemaking officials, legal staff and inspectors of CAAs
  • Managers (including safety, operations, training, security and compliance managers, and data protection officers)
  • Remote pilots and other professionals of aviation industry desiring to further develop their respective careers
  • Entrepreneurs involved or planning to become involved, in drones or training of remote pilots, for which knowledge of the regulatory landscape is an enabler to develop business cases
  • Instructors and examiners of remote pilots
  • Personnel of Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) since drones have a significant impact also on Air (or UAS) Traffic Management (U/ATM)

Pre-requisites

Essential:

Recommended essentials:

  • Good command of the English language
  • Successful completion of the asynchronous course ICAO-STP
  • Preferably 3 years of experience in traditional aviation, or 1 year of experience on drones