Droner - Diverse - Curt Lewis

Regulations Opening African Skies for Unmanned Aircraft, Connectivity, Tourism Unmanned aircraft have, over the past few years, taken the aviation world by storm. It has become apparent that without proper regulations, they could not only pose privacy issues, but also serious safety issues. South Africa is one of the first countries in the world that has a proper regulatory system that addresses the operation of drones and licensing drone pilots. The drone regulations came into effect in 2015. Currently, there are no proper internationally agreed upon safety standards developed to help regulate the safe operation and/or regulation of drones. Normally the UN's International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) develops standards and makes recommendations on best practices while regulators from across the globe then convert the recommended standards and regulations into legally enforceable civil aviation regulations within their respective jurisdictions. According to Poppy Khoza, director of the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA), ICAO is in the process of developing global safety standards that relate to the operation and licensing of drones and pilots. These guidelines are expected to be ready in 2022. The SACAA is the government body mandated to regulate and enforce civil aviation safety and security within South African airspace. In coming up with regulations to guide the operation of remotely piloted aircraft systems, South Africa has confirmed its strict commitment to air safety. Since the enactment and implementation of this law, other countries, mainly from the southern African region such as Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, have adopted similar measures to enhance air safety by regulating use of drones within their airspace. Among the key requirements to operate a drone in South Africa, under the new laws, is the operator's need for a valid remote pilot's license as well as a letter of approval issued by the SACAA to operate the drone. The letter of approval is valid for 12 months. The drone to be flown also must be registered with the SACAA before operation. Other requirements include not operating drones within restricted air space and/or near or over designated security and state installations. Additionally, and like manned aircraft, drone operators in South Africa should keep a logbook and are required to tune into the air traffic services when operating unmanned aircraft within controlled airspace such as near active airports and/or helipads. They are required to also report their coordinates to air traffic control and record all flight activities into the logbook. Enforcement of Regulations South Africa currently operates the safest airspace on the African continent. This is according to the latest aviation audit conducted by ICAO. This follows a series of audits that were meant to assess not only the regulation of the aviation industry in South Africa, but to also asses the country's preparedness in addressing any aviation-related incident within its airspace. However, one area that was not included in the audit is the nation's unmanned aircraft or drone regulations, even though they were operational at the time the audit was conducted. While South Africa scores top position on the continent in terms of aviation safety and security, it ranked 33rd globally. This was because the SACAA seeks to enforce aviation safety and security regulations to the letter. This was witnessed earlier in the year when the SACAA suspended the air operator's license of South African Express, a leading domestic and regional carrier and a wholly owned subsidiary of national carrier South African Airlines, which is also one of the largest airlines on the African continent. Khoza said the suspension was inevitable because an audit of the airline uncovered severe deficiencies within the its maintenance systems that made the airline non-compliant with safety and security regulations. This also included the suspension of the airworthiness certificates of nine of the airline's 21 aircraft. Air Connectivity Over the decades, Africa's air safety record has been poorest in the world. However, recent developments on the continent have seen countries take action to ensure that safety and security regulations are not only implemented, but also enforced. Nonetheless, air travel in Africa still remains hugely underdeveloped. Currently, the aviation industry in Africa supports more than 7 million jobs generating more than $80 billion. These numbers would significantly improve if certain inhibitors are removed or reduced. Some of these inhibitors include market access, investments, air connectivity and high costs of air travel within the continent. Air connectivity has been one of the highly debated inhibitors to trade, investments and tourism on the African continent. This consequently leads to high air fares. To address one of these key inhibitors, the African Union, the apex political grouping on the African continent, has spearheaded the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) to deal with regulatory and implementation instruments that would make an open skies policy possible in Africa. This is in realization that Africa plays host to about 15 percent of the global population, but has only three percent of global aviation market share. An open skies policy would without a doubt benefit the tourism industry in Africa. According to statistics from the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the continent attracted more than 62 million visitors in 2017 and the figure is projected to increase by eight percent in 2018. Tourist arrivals are projected to grow significantly higher if air connectivity within the continent is enhanced. Aside from being a catalyst to tourism, an open skies policy would increase trade and investment among African countries. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) indicates in a study that adopting an open skies policy would grow the gross domestic product of at least 12 leading African nations by up to $1.3 billion and attract an additional 4.9 million new tourists. Protectionism is seen as one of the biggest obstacles to the achievement of an open skies policy on the continent. However, only a few African airlines are operational. Most of these are state-owned airlines. Only Kenya Airways, Kenya's national carrier is fully privatized. Back to Top

The biggest threat to drone innovation is a group you've never heard of By:  Brian Wynne, Gary Shapiro Drone flying over a futuristic city A little-known but highly influential group of attorneys from across the country will soon meet in Detroit and could change our skies forever. They claim their draft model legislation concerning drones will help protect privacy. However, their actions could have far-reaching effects on innovation, safety and future drone operations. The state-appointed members of the Uniform Law Commission (ULC) aim to promote uniformity by proposing model legislation for consideration by legislatures across the country. In Detroit, the ULC will continue work on a proposed "Tort Law Relating to Drones Act" drafted by commissioners who have no aviation or drone experience and without consulting the federal government, state legislators or the industry. Their subsequent proposal fails to recognize the federal government's exclusive control of airspace regulation and runs counter to existing law. The draft proposal draws an inflexible, arbitrary line 200 feet in the sky and, if enacted by the states, would establish a new aerial trespass law. It anoints private property owners as de facto air traffic controllers, giving them a right to establish no-fly zones and creating a maze of flight paths with differing rules that operators must navigate on a house-by-house basis. As the draft goes much further than any existing state or federal law, it's likely to cause significant controversy and could create a complicated patchwork of differing state laws that erode, rather than enhance, aviation safety. Creating roadblocks to drone use would stifle innovation, halt job creation and slow growth in this still-nascent industry. Consumer drones are one of the fastest growing products, with total sales expected to reach over $1 billion this year, according to the Consumer Technology Association. More than 110,000 commercial small drones are registered with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and it expects over 450,000 commercial drones to be flying by 2022. The ULC's proposal could prevent businesses and public service organizations from using drones. This could limit powerline and railroad inspections, prevent insurance companies from deploying drones to assess damage or ground drone search and rescue operations after natural disasters, like hurricanes Florence and Michael. The ULC has essentially disregarded the concerns of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), the FAA and the drone industry. Its proposal incorrectly states the DOT, FAA and others are supportive despite on-the-record letters opposing these efforts. The ULC has ignored attempts to correct these mischaracterizations. This isn't the first time the ULC has disregarded industry views. In 2014, it attempted to jam through model legislation that would have led to automatic disclosure of digital assets after death with little regard for privacy or whether the deceased consented. States rejected the proposal and the ULC was forced to revise it to require affirmative consent in wills before assets are disclosed - as the tech industry had originally proposed. The ULC's lack of inclusiveness sits in stark contrast to the FAA's collaborative process to ensure the safe integration of drones into our skies. Its UAS Integration Pilot Program currently works with state, local and tribal governments across the country to conduct research that will shape a national drone policy framework in the coming years. The program provides a mechanism for localities to provide input to the FAA without infringing on its jurisdiction over the airspace. The recently enacted FAA Reauthorization Act also mandates a study on the roles of different levels of government in drone regulations. The ULC shouldn't undo the tremendous progress we have made. Instead, it should abandon its severely flawed proposal and leave airspace regulation to the FAA so the drone industry, and American aviation as a whole, can continue to safely operate in our skies.