Specific Operations

Summary

Specific Operations are those that can’t comply with the measures set out in the Open Category, but the risk is not high enough to sit in the Certified Category. All flights must comply with the applicable “Standardised European Rules of the Air Regulation” 932/2012 however the CAA have clarified this will not apply to VLOS flights. All operators in the Specific Category must be registered. Risk mitigations measures required are determined by a risk assessment that can be either conducted for the specific operation and submitted to the CAA for an Operational Authorisation Or generically as part of the Standard Scenarios (STS) submitted to the CAA as an Operational Declaration. Operators must be 18 years or over.

Standard Scenarios for Operational Declarations

These are documented in the annex of the IR. At the time of writing, there were not yet published, but they are expected to be in relation to the following:

  • drone with maximum dimension up to 3 metres in VLOS over controlled ground area except over assemblies of people

  • drones with maximum dimension up to 1 metre in VLOS except over assemblies of people;

  • drones with maximum dimension up to 1 metre in BVLOS over sparsely populated areas;

  • drones with maximum dimension up to 3 metres in BVLOS over controlled ground area.

  • Operations performed below 120m from the surface in Uncontrolled Airspace or Controlled Airspace after coordination and authorisation i.a.w procedures for that area

When submitting a declaration against an STS to the CAA it shall contain:

  • Admin info on UAS operator

  • A statement that operation satisfied requirements or point 1 and STS

  • Commitment to comply with mitigation measures (including. Operation, design, competency)

  • Confirmation that insurance will be in place

Once the CAA respond confirming receipt and completeness then the operation can begin, an Operational Authorisation is not required.

Operational Authorisations

If the flight doesn’t fit an STS then an OA will be required. An operator seeking an OA will need to submit the following:

  • Operational Risk Assessment (as per article 11) - it should be noted that CAA are not accepting any SORA (specific operational risk assessments) until after 31st December 2020.

  • Registration number

  • Accountable manager

  • Mitigation measures to allow the authority to assess the efficacy

  • Confirmation that insurance will be in place

CAA will then issue the OA when happy all information is provided and that a procedure is in place for coordination with ANSP (if operation crosses within controlled airspace) and they can conclude from the information that:

  • Safety objectives take account of risks

  • Mitigation measures are adequate (ground and air)

  • The operator has stated compliance with any privacy, data protection, liability, insurance, security and environmental protection rules

OAs are non-transferable and validity is determined on the OA itself by the competent authority. An OA may be for a single or number of operations in a specified time or location or both.

Aircraft Classes

The next update to the DR is expected to include two new UAS Classes (C5 and C6). This are for flying under the STS’s to be published. However as the CAA are not currently planning on following these I will not say any more about them here.

Small Print: These posts are a summary only, include my personal interpretation and are not intended to be a replacement for reading the actual rules.