At this stage I haven’t covered everything in the IR (particularly the Specific and Certified sections) but it felt like a good time to go to the DR temporarily to understand the Classes of Drones that relate to the Open Category A1, A2 and A3 operations.

The delegated regulation does more than just define the classes of drones, it also sets the rules for:

production of Remote Identification add-ons in the market
UAS operators that have their principal place of business, are established or reside in a third country
supply chain obligations (including manufacturer, distributor, and importer)

For this post I’m going to give a very high-level overview of the drone classes, I’m pointing this out because there is so much more to the definition of a class than weight so please don’t think this is everything. I’ll have to cover each class in an individual post to cover everything. I’ll also cover the other aspects of the DR later. From 1st July 2022, all aircraft placed on the Market targetting the Open Category will need to comply with the DR. I’ve put a summary table together:

	CO	C1	C2	C3	C4
Maximum Take Off Mass (MTOM) including payload	Less than 250g	Less than 900g OR <80J energy transmitted to human head at terminal velocity	Less than 4kg	Less than 25kg	Less than 25kg
Maximum Dimensions	Not Specified	Not Specified	Not Specified	3 metres	Not Specified
Maximum Flight Speed	Less than 19 m/s 42 mph 36 knots	Less than 19 m/s 42 mph 36 knots	No Max Speed Specified but there must be a Selectable Low Speed Mode to <3m/s (Unless fixed wing)	No Max Speed Specified	No Max Speed Specified
Maximum Attainable Height	120 m above take-off point	120 m above take-off point OR Equipped with system that limits height above surface or take-off point to 120 m or value set by RP. If value set by RP clear height shall be provided to RP	120 m above take-off point OR Equipped with system that limits height above surface or take-off point to 120 m or value set by RP. If value set by RP clear height shall be provided to RP	120 m above take-off point OR Equipped with system that limits height above surface or take-off point to 120 m or value set by RP. If value set by RP clear height shall be provided to RP	No Max Height Specified
Lighting	No Lighting Specified	Lighting to support RP Controllability and Night Lights which should be distinguishable from Manned Aircraft.	Lighting to support RP Controllability and Night Lights which should be distinguishable from Manned Aircraft.	Lighting to support RP Controllability and Night Lights which should be distinguishable from Manned Aircraft.	No Lighting Specified
Remote ID	Not Specified	Yes	Yes	Yes	Not Specified
Geo-Awareness	Not Specified	Yes	Yes	Yes	Not Specified
Sound/Noise Restrictions	Not Specified	Yes	Yes	Yes	Not Specified

If I cross-reference back to my post on the Open Categories. A1 was about flying over people and allowed the use of C0 and C1 aircraft which as you can see are the lowest weighted aircraft and have a maximum speed thus reducing the potential kinetic energy of the drone to a safe level, so this mapping makes sense.

A2 was about flying close to people, this permitted the use of C2, now although this is a heavier aircraft don’t forget you’re not allowed to overfly people, just close to them horizontally and only when in low-speed mode. Hence the C2 aircraft must have a low-speed mode embedded.

A3 was about flying far from people, i.e. 150m from a congested area, this allows for C2, C3, and C4. C3 and C4 are considerably heavier and so it makes sense that these would only be allowed far from people. Also, the requirements on C4 are much less rigorous and are more akin to traditional model aircraft hence they are unlikely to have things like height, GPS, lighting, Geo-Awareness, etc.

It’s worth noting that any drones with high-risk operations can not be used in the open category and will be subject to certification this includes situations involving transporting people, dangerous goods, more than 3m in dimension and designed to operate over people or anything else that a risk assessment deems it necessary to seek certification.

One final point. The EC are proposing some additional classes (C5 and C6) I will review this proposal soon and update this as necessary.

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.