Australia:- Revised CASR 1998 Part 101 Regulations to Come into Effect in October
Dr Reece Clothier President, AAUS
Today the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) advised that the amendment to Part 101 of Civil Aviation Safety Regulation (CASR 1998) has been registered on the Federal Register of Legislation. You can view the amendment here:
This has been a long time in the making. AAUS representatives have been active participants on the CASA Standards Consultative Committee, UAS Sub-Committee for a number of years. The original review began in 2011 with the Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) released in May of 2014 (seehere). The response to the NPRM raised a number of issues and concerns. Since then there have been numerous and significant changes made to the amended regulation. Some of the more notable ones being:
- An update of terminology to be consistent with ICAO definitions
- The definition of new categories of RPA and RPA operations
- Reduced regulatory requirements for those RPA operations that pose a low risk to other airspace users and to people on the ground
- The introduction of a notification system for very small RPA operating under standard operating conditions
- Requirement for certificate and remote pilot licence holders to respond to CASA surveys.
There has been much debate over the creation of the low risk “excluded” category of RPA operations. AAUS will be carefully reviewing the final amendment and will prepare a “quick guide” to assist members in navigating the revised regulation and its impact on your organisation.
The amended regulations will come into effect on the 1st October 2016.
Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any particular concerns or thoughts in relation to the amended regulations.
