This set of recommendations follows a consultation that attracted 4500 responses from the drone community, 70%+ in favour of an extension of the drone legacy and transitional provisions of 24 months or more.
In practice, our reading is that, in the Open category, existing “legacy” drones will be authorised beyond January 2023 under the “transition” requirements, with the key mass thresholds at:
250g in the A1 subcategory, flying over uninvolved people, but not over crowds
500g in the A1 subcategory, no intentional flight over uninvolved people, with a A2 CofC theoretical test as a competency requirement
2kg in the A2 subcategory, flying no closer than 50m horizontally from uninvolved people, with a A2 CofC theoretical test as a competency requirement.
DJI launched its MAVIC3 in November last year without any European Class marking. Work is in progress, but in practice the standards for drone class identification labels and the nomination of the notified bodies have not been finalised yet in Europe, and has not started as far as we know in the UK. Under those circumstances, extension is wise. There is still some way to go to reach implementation – if it is indeed what the UK regulators and policy-makers intend to do following their re-evaluation of the class scheme that originated before Brexit.
To read CAP2367 “Consultation Response: Extending the provisions for Legacy and Transitional Category UAS”: click here
Commentaires