Australian commercial UAS operators raise aviation & public safety concerns.

This rather demonstrates just how far ahead of the USA other countries are as regards regulations. Not only can they fly legally but they can prood their regulators to promote safety. Well done the ACUO (ed)

Commercial remotely piloted aircraft (UAV) operators in Australia are seriously concerned with the comments from the Director of CASA, Mr John McCormick, after publicly announcing on multiple occasions that CASA cannot enforce the aviation regulations effectively for Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS).

At the heart of commercial UAV operator concerns is CASA’s lack of effective regulatory enforcement of illegal/uncertified operators.

The CASA certifiedUAV operators have been sticking to the rules from day one, some for over a decade. Sadly CASA’s UAS resources appear to be primarily focused on the certified operators and on them alone.

In the National Aviation Policy White Paper put out by the Australian Government in Dec 2009, a key UAV policy was to; ‘ensure [that] CASA enhances oversight of the operation of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)…’, yet it is widely known in the aviation industry that CASA has been largely ineffective in enforcing the UAV/RPAS regulations, leading to widespread illegal RPAS activity in Australia and the primary reason why there are so few CASA certified (legal) UAV operators to date.

The President of the association of Australian Certified UAV Operators Inc. (ACUO), Mr Joe Urli, with 22 years of professional aviation experience and a former Safety Systems Inspector for CASA says: “We gave a detailed submission to CASA in May 2010 and had multiple meetings with CASA highlighting the growing ‘illegal’ high-risk UAV sector in Australia and what to expect in coming years if it wasn’t properly controlled. At the same time we also discussed a straightforward strategy to ‘nip it in the bud’ before the situation got out of control. Evidently CASA has not acted enough on this advice in a timely manner to stem the proliferation of illegal/uncertified RPAS operators.

“CASA has a responsibility and a duty to enforce the current aviation regulations and that includes the remotely piloted sector of

aviation. We do nottolerate illegal activity in other sectors of aviation [or any other sector of business for that matter], why are we tolerating illegal activity in this sector? It’s simply not good enough for CASA to throw its hands in the air and say it’s too hard. Whether they have the capacity to police the regulations or not, CASA should not be continually announcing they can’t enforce the current regulations. The impact of this communication could be compared to Police announcing that they can no longer enforce speed limits on our roads and expecting safety behaviours not to change. It doesn’t take much thought to work out what the public reaction will be to such defeatist statements from a National Aviation Regulator.”

ACUO and itsmembers are calling on the Transport Minister, Mr Albanese, to liaise with the Director of CASA to find a way to effectively resource and enforce the current aviation regulations. If CASA can’t demonstrate the enforcement ofthe current ‘simplified’regulations for Remotely Piloted aviation, how is CASA going to enforce any new proposed ‘more complex’ Regulations?

It doesn’t addup. The new regulations for RPAS will only become more of what Mr McCormick calls ‘Bad Law’,that clearly won’t be enforceable. We are already experiencing safety incidents where RPAS are being flown in close proximity with airline / passenger aircraft and in restricted airspace. The message needs to be very clear; if you break the law you face the consequences.

The President of ACUO concludes by saying; “All we want is for CASA to enforce the current aviation regulations as they stand and stamp-out illegal RPAS operations. It doesn’t take rule-change to do that, it takes a concerted effort & a commitment from CASA to actually find & deliver an effective enforcement strategy. We appreciate that CASA is trying to do their best under demanding circumstances, but CASA’s UAS Department needs to carefully rethink how they intend to manage & enforce any new RPAS regulations as much as what those new regulations are attempting to actually manage. One without the other is a wasted cause and may place aviation & public safety at unnecessary risk. ACUO will continue to support CASA in finding a solution for a better and safer RPAS

Joe Urli
President ACUO