New requirements for the work of operators of light unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) – 30 kg or less – can stop the market for aerial work involving such devices from March 1. This was reported to Izvestia in the association of employers and enterprises in the industry of unmanned aerial systems AeroNext on Monday, February 7.
From March 1, 2022, Clause 2.7 of Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) No. 494 comes into force, according to which specialists of enterprises working with unmanned aerial systems (UAS) must undergo training in special training programs approved by the Federal Air Transport Agency. But the standard program has not yet been approved by the department, AeroNext said. No document has been established that will confirm the qualifications of such specialists.
At the same time, Rostransnadzor has already issued an order to eliminate violations to one major player in the UAV market, which they cannot fulfill now, a spokesman for AeroNext said. The association fears further fines for these companies.
On January 27, Andrey Borisenko, Chairman of the Council for Air Transport Professional Qualifications, sent a letter to the Ministry of Transport, in which he asked to postpone the entry into force of paragraph 2.7 of FAR No. 494. The document was addressed to the deputy head of the department, Igor Chalik (a copy of the document is at the disposal of the editors of Izvestia).
The main document for the operator of any aircraft is the operator’s certificate. In order to obtain it from the Federal Air Transport Agency, it is necessary to document the compliance with the established requirements of the drone itself and the air personnel. Personnel are usually required to obtain an aviation specialist’s license. At the same time, according to the norms of the Air Code, the issuance of such a document is not required for piloting drones up to 30 kg. And another similar document, on the basis of which a specialist in this category can be admitted to activity, is not defined by law, ”Gleb Babintsev, CEO of AeroNext, explained to Izvestia.
Currently, not a single external pilot certificate for light drones has been issued in Russia. At the same time, according to AeroNext, 40 thousand light drones are registered in Russia, half of them are used in commercial activities, and the other half – amateur ones – are used for personal purposes. But there is also a large shadow market for UAS that are not registered with the Federal Air Transport Agency, Babintsev admits.
Existing working, and not standard training programs for remote pilots also cannot be approved by the Federal Air Transport Agency, since the agency accepts for consideration programs only from certified aviation training centers (ATC).
“But the training of these specialists at the ATC is generally redundant. The market has existed in Russia for 17 years. Programs and professional standards developed by educational organizations under the BAS development companies themselves already exist, and there is no reason to doubt their quality. These companies are themselves concerned about the safety of drone flights,” Babintsev said.
He added that light drones are used by specialists in various fields of activity – cinema, the media, enterprises shooting over construction sites and farms.
In July 2021, Izvestia wrote that AeroNext asked the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Industry and Trade to withdraw the project of the Ministry of Transport, which makes changes to the regulation of drones. The project included, among other things, certification of components for light drones weighing from 250 g to 25 kg and equipping them with special equipment for monitoring and interrupting the flight if necessary.
The business opposed the issuance of certificates to drone operators, equipping drones with on-board devices that allow them to observe the flight.
Business representatives noted that the bill of the Ministry of Transport is a more complex version of its last year’s initiative, which was not supported by the working group on legislation and the elimination of administrative barriers of the Aeronet National Technology Initiative and received a negative opinion from the Ministry of Economic Development based on the results of the regulatory impact assessment.
However, the association stressed that reasonable regulation is necessary. The lack of a regulatory framework will slow down the development of the domestic drone market, they pointed out.
Source: IZ
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
