What is a drone..?

A drone is an unmanned aircraft or UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle), a flying robot if you will. It is controlled remotely or autonomously using software-controlled flight plans that work with GPS and onboard sensors. UAV’s were associated with the military but now are used in a variety of civilian roles such as surveillance, weather monitoring, photography, agriculture and more so for fun

Who can fly a drone..?

Anyone can fly a drone but to do so, wether it be as a hobby or in a professional sense, the operator or drone pilot must register with the CAA and obtain a ‘flyer ID’ by passing a theory test. This ID then shows that the operator has passed a basic flying test and knows how to fly safely and legally. An ‘operator ID’ is the individual who is responsible for managing a drone or model aircraft. This means they are responsible for things like maintenance and ensuring everyone who flies a drone has a ‘flyer ID’. They are usually the individual or organisation that owns the drone. Most pilots get both a ‘flyer ID’ and ‘operator ID’ at the same time. The ‘flyer ID’ shows you’ve passed the basic flying test and the ‘operator ID’ is the registration number and must be labelled on the drone or model aircraft.

Flying weight. ID Needed

Flyer ID Operator ID

Below 250g - toy No No

Below 250g - not a toy - no camera No No

Below 250g - not a toy - with camera No Yes

250g and above Yes Yes

Where a drone can be flown..?

Where a drone can be flown depends on the type of drone and the level of risk involved on the flight. Drone flights are therefore split into three categories:

Open - this presents a low risk to third parties. Authorisation from the CAA is not required.

Specific - more complex opersation or part of any opersation that falls outside the scope of the open category. Authorisation is required from the CAA.

Certified - extremly complex operations presenting a risk to that of manned aviation. UK regulations are still being developed and are not yet published.

Open Category

The requirements below are what the drone pilot must adhere too:

• Aircrafts maximum take-off mass must be less than 25kg

• The drone must remain within VLOS (visiual line of sight)

• Maximum height of drone to be 400ft (120m) from where the pilot is located

Operators wanting to fly outside any of the above criteria will need to request permission to fly in the Specific Category. However, the 400ft rule can be exceeded when a UAV is required to overfly obstacles taller than 105m providing that:

• The obstacle is overflown by a maximum of 15m

• The pilot has permission from whoever is in chrage of the obstacle

• The pilot must stay within 50m horizontally of the obstacle

To confuse things even more, the Open Category is split further down into subcategories, these being A1, A2 & A3.

A1 - Fly over people

This sub-category is for drones which present the least risk due to their weight. Drones such as Mavic Mini, Mini 2 and Mini 3 Pro. they can be operated within residential, commercial, industrial and reacreational areas but are still governed by restrictions around specific high risk areas such as airports, glider fields etc. They must not be flown over crowds and not intentionally flown over uninvolved people.

A2 - Fly near to people

Drones in this sub-category which weigh up to 2kg can fly no closer tham 50m horizontally from people. All pilots must have an A2 CofC certificate to fly in this category. They can be operated within residential, commercial, industrial and recreational areas but are still goverened by restrictions around specific high risk areas such as airport, glider fields etc. They must not be flown over crowds and not intentionally flown over uninvolved people. Drones in this sub-category are Mavic 2 Pro/Zoom, Mavic Air 2 and Air2S, Mavic 3 and Phantom 4 series.

A3 - Fly far from people

This sub-category involves flights far away from people where the drone must not be flown closer then 150m from uninvolved people and any residential, commercial, industrial or reacreational areas. This is for the larger aircraft and for pilots whi have not obtained an A2 CofC certificate. Drone such as the M300RKT, Inspire series, M30 series and M200 series are require to fly in this sub-category with Operational Authorisation from the CAA.They are restricted from flying within airspace around an airport, glider field etc without relevant permission. There cannot be any uninvolved people present within the flight area also.

Specific Category

This category covers operations that present a much greater risk than the Open Category or where some elements of the operation fall outside the rules of the Open Category or to be more clear, this category is aimed more towards enterprise drone pilots. The main element of this category is that the operator is required to hold an Operational Authorisation, (OA), which has been issued by the CAA. This ‘OA’ sets out the privileges that are afforded and the limitations that must be followed when carrying out the operation. To obtain the ‘OA’, the operator must carry out a risk assessment of the proposed operation and submit it as part of the application.

Pre-defined Risk Assessment

Operators can use a PDRA (Pre-defined Risk Assessment). This is a set of conditions that must be compiled with by a UAS operator to conduct a predetermined type of operation.

UKPDRA01

This Risk Assessment is for operations within 150m of any residential, commercial, industrial or recreational area for a drone with a maximum take-off mass of less than 25kg. It is designed to enable VLOS operations in the areas that are likely to be more ‘congested’ than the areas where subcategory A3 operations are permitted.

UKPDRA01 allows the following operations:

• VLOS only, maximum 500m horizontally from remote pilot. The use of an observer sited next to the pilot is permitted.

• Maximum height not to exceed 400ft.

• Flight permitted within 150m of any residential, commercial, industrial or recreational area.

• No flight within 50m of any uninvolved person, except that during take-off and landing, this distance may be reduced to 30m.

• No flight within FRZ’s unless permitted.

• No flight within 50m horizontally of crowds.

All pilots involved in the operations must be in possession of a valid PfCO to GVC qualification and a valid ‘OA’.

UKPDRA02

This Risk Assessment requires an Operating Safety Case (OSC), which enables operators to fly outside the confines of a standard permission, like an ‘OA’ in the Specific Category.

An OSC is required for numerous operational procedure, including:-

• Flying less than 50m from uninvolved people.

• Flying less than 50m from uninvolved buildings/property.

• Flying less than 50m horizontally from crowds of people.

• Flying more than 400ft in altitude.

• Conducting EVLOS missions with multiple pilots.

• Flying beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS).

Flight Restriction Zones (FRZ)

In the UK, flights of any unmanned aircraft around aerodromes that are designated as ‘protected’, are restricted. UAV’s of any kind must not be flown within the associated Flight Restriction Zone (FRZ). These zones consist of 3 criteria:

• A zone with the same dimensions as the Aerodrome Traffic Zone which is either 2 or 2.5 nautical miles radius around the aerodrome extending up to 2000ft above ground level entered on the longest runway.

• Runway Protection Zones are rectangles extending 5km from the threshold of each runway away from the aerodrome along the extended runway centreline and 500m either side, also to a height of 2000ft above ground level.

• Additional zones: In the case where a line is drawn 1km beyond the boundary of an aerodrome extends beyond the Aerodrome Traffic Zone and so would not be protected by it, the FRZ will include an extension of 1km to protect this extended part of the aerodrome.

Applying for permission to fly in a Flight Restriction Zone (FRZ)

If a UAS operator wants to fly within an FRZ, they will need to find out whether the airfield is operated by NATS or contact the Air Traffic Control (ATC) or if they just need permission from whoever operates the airfield. NATS became National Air Traffic Services when responsibility for sponsoring the civil air services component was transferred to the newly formed Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in 1972.

• If the airfield is operated by NATS, then the operator will need to get permission from them via the NATS Airspace User Portal by submitting a non-standard flight application (NSF).

• If the operator needs to contact Air Traffic Control then they will need to find the number of the ATC and give them a call to get permission. If possible, request that permission is granted in writing as the geofence may need to be unlocked on the aircraft, especially if they fly a DJI drone.

• If there is no-one available in the control tower (either because the flight is outside of the operational hours of the ATC/FIS unit or because the aerodrome does not have an ATC/FIS unit in the first place), then the operator must obtain permission from the aerodrome operator.