Restrictions coming in Australia

[Michael Ainsworth]

Pertinent to all you in Australia.
Be aware that changes may be coming in.
Read this link

http://aaus.org.au/resources/Drones Media Statement 10 May 2017.pdf

I got this as I am a member in Australian Association of Unmanned Systems

Membership News

Media Release: Senate Inquiry on Drones

May 10 2017 - The Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee (committee) is currently conducting an inquiry into the regulatory requirements that impact on the safe use of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems, Unmanned Aerial Systems and associated systems (drones).
Today, the committee released a media statement which described recommendations made to the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, the Hon Darren Chester MP in April to strengthen regulation of drones, particularly surrounding the use of recreational drones.
The recommendations encouraged action in 3 key areas:

• Safety awareness and training – recreational drone users should have to undergo training and safety awareness before purchasing and using drones;

• Registration and tracking – the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) should be empowered to track all individual drones, starting with the registration of all drones, regardless of their size or intended use; and

• Aviation safety – to minimise the potential for collisions between drones and aircraft and to protect controlled airspace and airports, geofencing technology should be introduced for individual drones and/or drone shields should be employed in high traffic areas.

The committee will further consider these and other safety measures, including mandatory flight logging and the display of registration marks, during the course of the inquiry before reporting to the Senate on 6 December 2017.
Read full media statement:
Drones Media Statement 10 May 2017.pdf


Australian Association of Unmanned Systems



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[Chris.K]

the only part of that which is completely ludicrous is flight logging. that wont happen. typical bureaucrats living in dreamworld.
the rest of it seems fairly innocuous.

 

[SeaComms]

Well the DJI Go app logs all flights, I wonder if that will be enough?

 

[Chris.K]

yeah good point. youre right. i read that more as logging before you flew. i was thinking of a flight plan.

 

[Michael Ainsworth]

The tracking and mandatory flight logging?
And the public are worried about their privacy being invaded when this allows the authorities to know exactly where you are and what you are doing.
How would flight logging go, would we need to get permission to fly and have a flight plan. e.g Its a nice afternoon after work can I simply take the drone out to the beach and use it or would I need to make a flight plan and contact CASA for permission, or would it be as simple as just keeping an electronic record of the flight?
Not sure the wording is clear.
Also this applies to all drones regardless of size, so does that mean you cant buy your kids a cheaper one to play with.
Interesting to see what they come out with.
Fortunate that I joined AAUS to be able to get some info of what is happening.
Also the licence part opens up a can of worms, will it be a nominal fee or something increasingly exorbitant.
A good thing that could come out of this is that if drone users are legitimised through a training scheme and given a licence then we have certain rights to expect to be able to fly (Along with responsibilties)
Wouldn't have to feel we are skulking around doing something we shouldn't.

 

[quick_dry]

has this Senate group run their idea for "drone shields" past anyone at ACMA? Or talked to anyone at CASA about the idea of "protecting" aircraft by having radio signals jammers primarily operating in the flight path?

Shouldn't a "rural and regional affairs" group be lobbying CASA for making it easier to allow BVLOS operation by/for farmers? That would seem to fit better with their stated purpose.

They sound like they're trying to impose regulation in areas that they're not really familiar, much like if aviation folks started writing legislation for proper farm practices.

 

[Wnew]

the only part of that which is completely ludicrous is flight logging. that wont happen. typical bureaucrats living in dreamworld.
the rest of it seems fairly innocuous.

efficient integrated systems, and micro-tech, are becoming MORE possible, not less - talk freedoms all you want, but criminal MIS-use, is already established, in case law precedent, in public AND societal AND industry submissions, and there is little denying that if you've got nothing to hide, then you've got nothing to fear.

practically, it'd at least be possible to have a assigned bandwidth squeezed in somewhere, to have system-wide standard for a encoded ID transmission - we track tens of thousands of wildlife with microchips, and have been for DECADES, even on geese!

so why should low-altitude ones, when we can manage it with geese, be so unbeleiveable?



phhhh. easy peasy. systems to identify non-signal SENDING, UFOs, soto speak, will take a bit more effort - ie, those who deliberately modify theirs.

if you'll have nothing to hide, you'll have nothing to fear.

 

[Wnew]

" e.g Its a nice afternoon after work can I simply take the drone out to the beach and use it or would I need to make a flight plan and contact CASA for permission, or would it be as simple as just keeping an electronic record of the flight? "

yes, AT LEAST, automatic, for record-keeping, could be done without interfering in (legit) recreational use - it'd just be some periodic location pinger, or similar.

" Also this applies to all drones regardless of size, so does that mean you cant buy your kids a cheaper one to play with. "

microtech is getting smaller and more efficient.



" Also the licence part opens up a can of worms, will it be a nominal fee or something increasingly exorbitant. "

automatic ID chipping DURING MANUFACTURING, will probably absorb most of the physical costs, but it is a Political / Beuraucratic-opportunity for a fee somewhere, i acknowledge - on the other hand, why do we register farming equipment? or chemical storage units? or smartphones? true, this is toys, not commercial, but they are being USED, beyond their intended purpose, so there's OPPORTUNITY there, legally - like has happened with the prison-cases - they would be as un-registered, and not-needing another point of ID, as any legitimate hobbyist/recreational user, if there were no laws about this.

so its not would be's of need for legitimate users, its a way of being able to make the legitimate and illegitimate, stand out more clearly / for there to be more capacity to use its PRESENCE, in small scale detection, especially in policing (like the prisons thing) , to be established, to already be in place, in other words.

don't believe the statements in documentaries, that there's aren't / wont be systems for small scale flying object tracking systems, they existed BEFORE this question even became an issue.

would some see that as a invasion of privacy? tech used by police? well, when are you giving up your freedoms,.. ENOUGH?




this isn't some seeing-from-your-POV , invasion, its a baby step towards more integrated societal / industry, security,..

not PERSONAL, in other words. most of the time, the logging at a personal level, will go completely un-accessed / checked out, for the majority - can you imagine how many people would be needed for some kind of constant monitoring?

no no, its for regressional record keeping, not LIVE, anything.

 

[Michael Ainsworth]

Looks like regulation coming in July 2019.

"CASA will be able to charge a $20 registration fee plus compulsory online test.

Australia's aviation safety authority will establish a "flyer's licence" and mandatory registration for drones from July this year, coinciding with a world-first drone food delivery business to be run out of Canberra.
Key points:

• Drone flyer data will be kept in a database to track users
• Those with drones of more than 250g will have to pass an online education course
• A drone delivery service is set to begin operation in Canberra once CASA approves it

For the first time, anyone in Australia who wants to fly a drone will have to be accredited by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, making it easier for police to track down miscreants.
"It will certainly give us big advantages in terms of complaints or reports of drones being flown improperly or against the safety rules," CASA spokesman Peter Gibson said.
"We'll have a starting point to know who flies drones in that area, what sort of drone they fly."
Prospective flyers of drones weighing more than 250 grams will need to pass an online education course and register their drone, according to policy documents prepared by CASA.
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume.

Flyer data would be kept in a database, finally allowing Australian authorities to get a picture of how many drones are flown in Australia, who is flying them and where.

"For the first time we'll have an overall picture of the drone sector … probably there are tens of thousands, possibly even 100,000, but at this point we don't know," Mr Gibson said.

CASA said the cost of registration would vary for different types of drones and whether they were used for fun or profit.
It estimated it would cost $20 annually per person for recreational drones and for some model aircraft operators.
The annual fee for each commercial drone would likely range from $100 to $160.


CASA is still developing a full real-time network that can track drones like it does aircraft.
But it said, with operators like Google preparing to launch skyward in Australia, it needed to be ready for a complicated network of drones flying above Australia's cities.
Google's parent company Alphabet last year began trialling the use of drones to deliver burritos, coffee and medication in a suburb on the fringes of Canberra.
It has now built a permanent warehouse headquarters in the more central suburb of Mitchell, under the name Project Wing, where it plans to begin its first ongoing commercial operation — once CASA approves it.
Like any commercial operator, Google is already licenced to fly by the safety authority.
But as the drone industry rapidly grows, CASA said it needed to develop a system to manage all flyers, including those doing it just for fun.

"Clearly the unmanned traffic system is the key to safe and efficient drone operations, and all the players that are working in these areas are developing their own systems," Mr Gibson said.

CASA's Peter Gibson says a "flyer's licence" will be required for drone pilots from July. Video link from Peter Gibson

"We are working on that already … it's not simple."

This is an edited version of report from CASA

 

[Meta4]

For the first time, anyone in Australia who wants to fly a drone will have to be accredited by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, making it easier for police to track down miscreants.
"It will certainly give us big advantages in terms of complaints or reports of drones being flown improperly or against the safety rules," CASA spokesman Peter Gibson said.
"We'll have a starting point to know who flies drones in that area, what sort of drone they fly."

That all sounds so simple (and naive).
Of course all miscreants will register their drone and fly from their home ... and that will make tracking them down so easy.
I can't see a flaw in that reasoning.

 

[SeaComms]

Absolute joke isn't it. Let's make them pay and register then we will know who it is flying the drone illegally. WTF? Who thinks up this rubbish!

As a Commercial drone user, and one who has paid plenty of coin already to be commercial, I now have to pay more for each drone to cover a registration system designed to catch the Cowboys. Commercial flyers with a RePL and or ReOC should be exempt from the registration, same as flyers under the MAAA banner flying model aircraft. And yes, I did express this to CASA during the consultation period.