Oh dear!...No C markings imminent in UK it seems...
- Thread starter Hiwayman
- Start date
Farcical. Absolutely farcical.
The C-marking standard has been pretty much set for months now, so there really isn't any excuse for the DfT here - all they needed to do was appoint someone to check that a given drone complies with the spec that the vendor is requesting for it. Given the kinds of things that the DfT puts to tender this should have been a cake walk, so what happened? An expectation that the CAA would do it, but the CAA balked at the idea? Near zero priority in the DfT to actually put the tender together?
DJI and the other vendors with imminent product launches must be livid. Not only do they need to deal with all the global supply chain issues to get their products to market, but now they need to convince buyers reluctant to part with cash for a device that will quite possibly become classes as legacy almost immediately as well. Also makes me wonder if they'd been delaying product launches so long for certification they've finally thrown in the towel and decided they can't keep sitting on new products while they wait for the DfT to get its act together. Still, maybe they can use this as a justification for retrospective certification and suitable assurances from the DfT/CAA that will actually happen.
The C-marking standard has been pretty much set for months now, so there really isn't any excuse for the DfT here - all they needed to do was appoint someone to check that a given drone complies with the spec that the vendor is requesting for it. Given the kinds of things that the DfT puts to tender this should have been a cake walk, so what happened? An expectation that the CAA would do it, but the CAA balked at the idea? Near zero priority in the DfT to actually put the tender together?
DJI and the other vendors with imminent product launches must be livid. Not only do they need to deal with all the global supply chain issues to get their products to market, but now they need to convince buyers reluctant to part with cash for a device that will quite possibly become classes as legacy almost immediately as well. Also makes me wonder if they'd been delaying product launches so long for certification they've finally thrown in the towel and decided they can't keep sitting on new products while they wait for the DfT to get its act together. Still, maybe they can use this as a justification for retrospective certification and suitable assurances from the DfT/CAA that will actually happen.
Well that's what I'm hoping...no desire to upgrade M2P at this time but would happily send it to dji for retrospective marking..
CAA seems not to like the idea of flyer applied stickers for the C-marking, so yeah, a return to DJI seems likely if retrospective markings ever become a thing. I guess you could beef the stickers up to include a hologram for authenticity at a pinch - yes, holograms can now be faked, but I suspect the numbers involved are probably too small to justifiy the cost and hassle. Besides, lets face it, the only time this is likely to get checked is if a pilot has had an incident and the police and/or CAA is involved, so if you've got a knock-off sticker on a non-certified model of drone that's going to become apparent pretty quickly.
Still, I guess the plus side is that while we wait for a resolution it at least lets some of the initial supply chain issues to be resolved (global logistics, scalpers, etc.), and by the time the average pilot can actually buy one they might even be coming straight from the factory with the marking already on.
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