South Africa, RPAS regulations by April 2015
The CARCom Subcommittee that met in Johannesburg on Monday was well received by industry pundits in attendance. Nearly two hundred comments were submitted by industry and addressed by SACAA members present.
Not unusual in modern South Africa the proceedings were plunged into darkness by load shedding shortly after commencing. An extension cord provided relief letting the meeting continue in darkness with laptop and projector lighting the way.
The SACAA was very keen to underline that the proposed regulations are just a start that will be modified as experience is gained. They are taking the very sensible approach of starting small and working up as experience mounts.
Commentators from the SACAA were keen to point out that exceptions to different regulations could be make if contained within operations manuals. I found it interesting that holding a manned flight licence will not automatically give a user a ticket and that overseas qualifications will not be recognized.
April the 1st 2015 should be a busy day at Ikhaya Lokundiza
