Introduction
Regulations for the civil use of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS)/Drones are being developed and implemented at an accelerated pace by ICAO, JARUS, European Union and EASA.
The European approach is:
- “operation centric” (i.e. the operator is the responsible entity for the safety of operations, even in the absence of a formal Type Certificate for the aircraft);
- based on three categories, with a growing level of involvement of the aviation authorities.
The course will focus on what operators need to know to legally and safely fly drones for non-military purposes, including limitations in the “open” (A) category of UAS operations, operational risk assessment in the “specific” (B) category and RPAS operator certificate in “certified” (C) category. Only the latter is standardised by ICAO when flying internationally.
Course Content
11 lectures of about 50 minutes, plus 3 group exercises, plus 1 hour for final examination: distributed over 2 consecutive days.
The 11 lectures comprise:
- Course vision and objectives
- UAS “Concepts of Operation” (CONOPS) and emerging rules for UAS operations by ICAO, JARUS and EU/EASA
- Operations in Category A (“open”) according to the EU Implementing Act from Feb. 2019
- Related Acceptable Means of Compliance
- Operations in Category B (“specific”) according to the same Implementing Act
- Standard scenarios for simplified procedures in the “specific” category
- Standard scenarios published by JARUS
- U-Space basics
- U-Space implementation
- UAS personnel competence
- Operations Manual
Learning Objectives
After completing the course:
- All participants will be able to explain the regulatory processes linked to “open” (A), “specific” (B and “certified” (C) categories of UAS operations
- All participants will be able to explain how the Specific Operations Risk Assessment (SORA) methodology fits into the regulatory processes
- Participants from a competent aviation authority will be able to apply the EU/EASA regulatory processes adopted in 2019 to different categories of non-military drones
- Participants from an ANSP will be able to describe the variety of drone operations, beyond ATM issues
- Participants from operators and pilot training organisations will be able to plan the transition to the new European regulatory context, better identifying respective responsibilities and privileges in relation to safety
Who should take this course
Note: This course is relevant for participants from ECAC countries. Click here to see whether your country is an ECAC Member State.
Aviation professionals feeling the need to receive essential information on the operations of non-military drones, to:
- identify the context to fly drones in their country, including for commercial purposes legally
- apply the rules for approval of drone operations and operators
- better assess possibilities for expanding their business in the field of commercial drone operations
The target group includes:
- Middle managers, rulemaking officials, policy advisors and inspectors of CAAs
- Middle managers, remote pilots and other aviation professionals desiring to receive comprehensive although essential, information to further develop their respective careers or knowledge
- Entrepreneurs involved or planning to become involved, in commercial operations of drones or training of remote pilots
- Instructors and examiners of remote pilots
- Personnel of Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) wishing to better understand drone operations from a perspective different from Air Traffic Management (ATM)
Pre-requisites
Essential:
- Good command of the English language
- University graduation (bachelor), or 3 years of experience in traditional aviation, or 1 year of experience on drones
Desirable:
- Good understanding of the respective roles of institutions, agencies and other entities involved in developing the regulatory framework for drones
- Having attended the course ICAO-STP Introduction, which covers societal concerns beyond safety (e.g. security, enforcement, liability, insurance, privacy, data protection, etc.)
Duration
2 days, starting at 09:00 and ending at approximately 17:00 each day