Sofema Aviation Services (SAS) www.sassofia.com Considers the practical issues associated with the requirement for regulatory compliance for EASA Drone “OPS”.
Who is an ‘Uninvolved person’?
- Not participating in the UAS operation or
- Who is not aware of the instructions and safety precautions given by the UAS (drone) operator’.
Who is an Involved Person?
- Chooses to be a part of the operation
- Understands the risk and
- Is able to check the position of the drone while it is flying.
- Provides explicit consent to be a part of the operation (e.g. consent to be overflown by the drone)
- Shall receive from the drone operator/remote pilot instructions and safety precautions to be applied in case of an emergency situation; and
- Be available to check the position of the drone and, in case of an incident, take action to avoid being hit.
Uninvolved Persons
- Spectators gathered for sport activities, concerts, or other mass events; people on a beach or in a park, or walking on the streets.
- Could also be a person who is in a bus, car, etc., and who is indirectly exposed.
- The driver of a car in proximity to the Drone.
Assembly of People
- An assembly of people densely packed that their possibility to freely escape or move away from the drone is limited, then it is considered to be an assembly of people.
o Sport, cultural, religious or political events;
o Beaches or parks on a sunny day;
o Commercial streets during the opening hours of the shops; or
o Ski resorts/tracks/lanes.
Drone Proximity to Uninvolved Persons
The ‘open’ category is itself subdivided into three sub-categories – A1, A2, A3 — which may be summarised as follows:
- A1: fly over people but not over assemblies of people;
- A2: fly close to people;
- A3: fly far from people.
In General, when you operate in the ‘open’ category, you are not allowed to fly over uninvolved people, unless you have a privately built drone with a weight below 250 g or a drone purchased on the market with a class identification label 0 or 1 mark.
Note – should minimise the time during which you fly over people.
Class 2 – Subcategory A2:
Lateral distance from any uninvolved person should be maintained using the ‘1:1 rule’.
UA is flying at a height of 40 m, distance should be at least 40 m never closer than 30 metres horizontally from any uninvolved person.
Note If equipped with a low-speed mode function and this is active, you can fly as close as 5 metres from uninvolved people.
Next Steps
Sofema Aviation Services www.sassofia.com and Sofema Online www.sofemaonline.com provide regulatory compliant vocational training compliant with EASA regulations. For further information and support please email [email protected]
Tags:
aviation, Aviation Training, Regulatory Compliance, EASA regulations, Drones, Drone Operations, EASA Drone Operations, EASA Drone “OPS”, UAS operation
