Certified Operations Overview

Believe it or not the number of rules in the IR and DR on certified aircraft and operations are much less. This is because essentially anything to be certified must meet the same applicable rules and requirements set for manned aircraft which have already been established and therefore these are just referenced rather than repeated.

Which aircraft and operations fall into the certified category?

• The drone has dimension of 3 m or more and is designed to be operated over assemblies of people

• The drone is designed for transporting people

• The drone is designed for the purpose of transporting dangerous goods and requiring a high level of robustness to mitigate the risks for third parties in case of an accident

It should be noted that certified aircraft don’t necessarily have to be flow in certified operations. That is, flights in the specific category may have a degree of risk that can only be mitigated if they use a Certified aircraft. In this scenario, the drone is certified but the operation is specific. The drone must feature the technical capability dictated by the requirements of the specific operation (these would be set out in the OA or STS)

What rules apply to certified aircraft?

A UAS subject to certification shall comply with the applicable requirements set out in:

• (EU) No 748/2012 (airworthiness and environmental certification of aircraft, their parts, products, appliances and certification of design and production organisations)

• (EU) 2015/640 (additional airworthiness specifications for a given type of operations)

• (EU) No 1321/2014 (continuing airworthiness of aircraft and approval of organisations and personnel involved in these tasks)

In addition to the above, all certified unmanned aircraft must be registered with the state registration system. Details to be recorded include manufacturer's name, designation of the unmanned aircraft; serial number; full name, address, email address and telephone number of the natural or legal person under whose same the unmanned aircraft is registered. The same can be said for the operator of the certified aircraft.

What rules apply to certified operations?

Operations subject to certification shall be subject to the applicable operational requirements laid down in:

• (EU) No 923/2012 of 26 September 2012 laying down the common rules of the air and operational provisions regarding services and procedures in air navigation

• (EU) No 965/2012 of 5 October 2012 laying down technical requirements and administrative procedures related to air operations

• (EU) No 1332/2011 of 16 December 2011 laying down common airspace usage requirements and operating procedures for airborne collision avoidance

In essence, operators and aircraft must have a certification and remote pilots will require official licenses. Unlike the current CAA Permissions for Commercial Operations, these will be Licenses like manned aircraft pilots hold.

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.

Generic rules in the Open Category

Updated 9th June 2020: To reflect CAP1789 minimum age requirements and Lighting requirements.

While I’ve covered the specific rules for the three different scenarios of the Open Categories, I wanted to try and group together the generic ones that apply no matter which of the three Open categories you’re flying in.

Maximum Flying Height

EASA Image explaining the height

As per the current rules and regulations (unless you have an exemption from the CAA), the maximum permitted height in 99% of circumstances* is 400ft above the ground. However, in the new world this looks like it can be extended (without the need for additional CAA authorisation) in two key scenarios:

• Model Gliders - when soaring around hilltops 400ft above the ground, flying horizontally away from yourself the ground can quickly drop away as the terrain of the hill drops. For this reason the new rules permit the 400ft to be from the pilot as opposed to the earth (note: VLOS is still required) when using gliders in this scenario.

• Obstacles - the whole point of 400ft is generally to seperate unmanned aircraft and manned aircraft. However, if there is a man made obstacle that goes above 400ft, let’s say to 500ft, then it’s safe to say the manned aircraft will not be flying below 500ft (in most circumstances). Therefore the regulation allows drones to fly within 15m of that obstance horizontally or vertically.

*I say 99% because currently, when flying within a Flight Restriction Zone, drone operators may fly above 400ft with permission from the Air Traffic Service Provider.

Minimum Age Requirments

Currently, commercial drone operators must be a minimum of 18 years old as this is the minimum age required for a PfCO and Operator ID. Also a pilot (but not an operator) may currently obtain his/her own Flyer ID at 13 years. The new regulations state the minimum age for this is now 16 years (for specific and open), however, the CAA have the power to reduce this by up to 4 years in the open (or 2 years in the specific), the CAA have stated they will do this in order to align with the current situation in the open category (i.e. 13 years) and they will reduce it for the Specific category to 14 years. It’s worth adding that in the new regulations there is no minimum age if the drone is being flown in A1 and it is a C0 drone classed as toy, it is privately built and <250g, legacy <250g OR operating under the supervision of a pilot who already holds the required competency of the flight/drone (e.g. A1/A2/A3).

Airworthiness Requirements

Quite simply the safety of drone design must comply with the delegated regulation unless it is

1. Privately built

2. Covered by a model aircraft club/association framework

3. Placed on the market before 1 July 2022

Registration Requirements

There’s an onus on the Operator (as opposed to the Remote Pilot, but they be the same person) to register the drone when operating in the Open Category if the drone is more than 250g, can transfer a Kinetic Energy of more than 80 Joules OR is capable of capturing personal data. It is not required is the drone is classed as a Toy.

Geographical Zones

This will work in a similar fashion to the Flight Restriction Zones as already displayed on the NoFlyDrones home page. They can be set up for the purpose of safety, security, privacy, or environmental reasons. The key difference is that these are not going to be as black and white as a NO fly zones like we have today. They could restrict certain types of drone operations or drone classes, certain areas may require an OA or they may only allow drones equipped with certain features.

Lighting and Remote ID

From 1 July 2022, a green flashing light must be activated when flying at night.

From 1 January 2022 operators must ensure that each individual unmanned aircraft is installed with an active and up to date remote identification system

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