ICAO and drones

[MAvic_South_Oz]

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is a UN specialized agency, established by States in 1944 to manage the administration and governance of the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago Convention).

So, how much influence has this United Nations agency got over drone policy of out various Worldwide airspace authorities ?
I've often wondered why and how all the major airspace regulators of some of the main western countries are almost ALL bringing in new licensing / registration type policies, how closely aligned time wise, and how similar they can be to each other.
Who's driving it ?

Since finding this group, I've had a little suspicion it would likely have some small department devoted to looking at the modern UAV boom and how they feel it should be managed.
This morning I decided to take a look, and have just found a quick search of their site for > UAV drone policy < and this brings up a lot of results on their site.
Other more open search terms may reveal more too I'm sure.

Search: UAV drone policy

www.icao.int

Thought I'd put it up here for anyone interested in the United Nations likely having a bearing on what's going on with recreational and commercial pilots activities.
So, if anyone else has an inquisitive mind regarding this, knock yourself out, and if you find something interesting, please post up a link, most of their info there is in the form of PDF reports etc.

I haven't even read past the first doc there of the 87 results as yet, and may have some time in the coming weeks.

Curious just now, I checked the first PDF in the search results, a powerpoint presentation of some remote ID scheme from a Chinese developer.
Looks like a private enterprise doc from CASIC, don't think they'll be winning any US FAA contract too soon though.

https://www.icao.int/Meetings/RPAS3/Documents/Presentations/3.4.5%20Liu%20Gang.pdf

 

[Ralph thompson]

The role of United Nations agencies like ICAO is to establish consensus amongst member nations and to publish guidelines. But they do not have authority to regulate. Members are committed to take the recommendations back to their State governments and as far as is possible create regulations that are consistant with the ICAO guidelines. But there are always specific local challenges that result in the State regulations differing from ICAO guidelines or layering additional restrictions.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Thanks Ralph, yes what I suspected.
The UN organisation helps steer authorities.
After reading that first doc, there are probably anti drone tech companies pushing their agendas through to ICAO and wonder if they have people at ICAO that may be prone to getting turned anti drone by such agendas and marketing.
Most anti drone tech companies really make it seem like a huge number of drone flights are illegally made, or for illegal purpose.
I don’t feel that is the case at all.

 

[Ralph thompson]

I’d say that there is generally an anti commercial drone sentiment in the aviation industry, especially with the very conservative regulators, many of whom have a pilot background. A pilots big nightmare is having something come flying out of the blue & smashing into their plane.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

True, a concern then that they are helping guide policy on the UAV industry.
In all likeliness without a real knowledge of what most consumer / commercial drone flights involve.
Much like the general publics perceptions of drones and privacy are skewed badly.
I wonder if there really is any hope for the future and this hobby, it could be under more threat than we all realise.

 

[Cw4bray]

Most of the ICAO documents you linked to were several years old. The industry proliferation that's taken place in the past months or year indicates that governments and ICAO isn't keeping up with technology. I'd think there would've been a common standardized operators test and more standardized safety rules by now.

 

[Ralph thompson]

Most of the time, ICAO moves very slowly having to respect the wishes of around 100 States around the globe. It is used to taking years to make recommendations. However the commercial drone business is currently valued at around $4B annually and forecast to double in the next 2 to 3 years. That means big players like (Amazon etc) will be knocking on the US ICAO reps door and lobbying hard for some form of standardization of the rules. A lot goes on quietly behind closed doors in organizations like ICAO and the US has a lot of influence. ICAO postponed its Drone Symposium schedule for this September to 13-15 April 2021. If anyone is interested keep a close eye on who is submitting papers, it will be a strong indicator of the direction the commercial industry is headed. For recreational operators, the future is a lot less defined.

 

[Cw4bray]

Most of the time, ICAO moves very slowly having to respect the wishes of around 100 States around the globe. It is used to taking years to make recommendations. However the commercial drone business is currently valued at around $4B annually and forecast to double in the next 2 to 3 years. That means big players like (Amazon etc) will be knocking on the US ICAO reps door and lobbying hard for some form of standardization of the rules. A lot goes on quietly behind closed doors in organizations like ICAO and the US has a lot of influence. ICAO postponed its Drone Symposium schedule for this September to 13-15 April 2021. If anyone is interested keep a close eye on who is submitting papers, it will be a strong indicator of the direction the commercial industry is headed. For recreational operators, the future is a lot less defined.

Interesting... Please allow me to paraphrase. Bureaucrats and politicians are slower than molasse, there's tons of money involved. Politicians are proficient at quietly doing back door drug deals. Delay tactics are being employed for someone's benefit. For hobbyists, a crystal ball might be a good tool for predicting the future of the industry.

 

[Ralph thompson]

Whereas I’d normally acknowledge the mammoth weight of bureaucracy, in fairness ICAO has achieved a lot without resorting to war. Millions safely fly around the world on commercial airplanes every year thanks to ICAO. Let’s hope they do the same for drones