Introduction
Regulations for civil use of drones are being developed and implemented at an accelerated pace by ICAO, JARUS, EU and EASA.
The regulatory approach invented by JARUS in 2014, enshrined in Part IV of ICAO Annex 6 in 2024 and already implemented in Europe and UK 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 risk categories, with a growing level of involvement of the aviation authorities.
The course will 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, requirements in “specific” (B) category and guidance for Pre-Defined Risk Assessments (PDRA) and operations manual.
In addition, the course will provide information on the operator certificate and on emerging operations in the “certified” (C) category for domestic operations. The C category is standardised by ICAO only when flying internationally.
Finally the course will provide authorities information on the establishment of geozones, on vertiports and on possible application of civil provisions to respective UAS State (non-military) flights.
Course Content
15 Lectures of about 30 minutes, distributed in 3 consecutive days, covering the following topics:
- Course introduction
- UAS “Concepts of Operation” (CONOPS) by ICAO, JARUS and EU/EASA (Art. 1, 3, 6 of Commission Regulation 2019/947);
- Operations in Category A (“open”) according to 2019/947 (Art. 4, 7) and related conditions and limitations (Part A of Annex to 2019/947);
- Toy aircraft and model aircraft (Art. 16);
- Operations in B (“specific”) category (Art. 5, 11, 12);
- Standard scenarios (STS) and Pre-defined Risk Assessments
- Additional JARUS PDRAs and one remote pilot controlling several aircraft (swarms)
- Cross-border operations (Art. 13)
- Light UAS operator Certificate (LUC) & possible privileges (Part C of Annex to 2019/947);
- JARUS CONOPS (Annex A) and EASA Operations Manual
- Examples of Geozone implementations (Art. 15)
- Vertiports and docking systems
- Regulation of UAS State flights
- Operations in domestic certified category (EASA Opinion 03/2023)
- Tasks of CAA (Art. 15, 17, 18, 19) and qualification of UAS Inspectors
Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this course you will be able to:
- Explain the regulatory processes linked to “open” (A), “specific” (B) and “certified” (C) categories of UAS operations
- Apply the EU/EASA Commission Regulation 2019/947 and its three Annexes
- Identify national initiatives necessary for full application of 2019/947
- Choose the best approach to regulate UAS State flights
- Define policies to implement vertiports
Who should take this course
1) Entrepreneurs and industry managers involved, or planning to become involved, in commercial operations of drones or training of involved personnel and which need to take informed decisions on respective business plans;
2) Policy advisors, rulemaking officials and middle managers from Governments or CAAs, belonging to:
- EU/EASA Member States which contribute to development of EU common rules on UAS and to their subsequent implementation in individual States;
- Other ECAC States and in particular States candidates to EU accession, whose regulations should converge on the acquis communautaire;
- Any other ICAO Contracting State wishing to better understand the three risk-based categories of UAS operations as described in the Foreword to Part IV of Annex 6 to the Chicago Convention, effective since 22 July 2024;
- Inspectors from CAA and auditors from Notified Bodies/Qualified Entities, which will need to verify compliance with 2019/947 and associated industry standards;
- Instructors and examiners of remote pilots;
- Personnel from UAS manufacturers, Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs), UTM/U-space service providers (USSPs) or from aerodrome operators or other stakeholders, wishing to better understand the regulation of UAS operations;
- Any other aviation professional, remote pilot or University professor, researcher or student, feeling the need to receive essential information on the operations of non-military drones to further develop her/his career or competencies.
Pre-requisites
- Good command of English language
- Having passed the asynchronous course UAS-INI (ICAO STP)
- Participants are kindly requested to bring a laptop to the course to access course materials.
Duration
3 Days:
- Day 1: 09:00 – 17:00 hrs
- Day 2: 09:00 – 17:00 hrs
- Day 3: 09:00 – 17:00 hrs