Thoughts on upcoming changes and licensing

[Rob-UK]

I have been saving to do a PfCO course to enable me to get a CAA license for commercial drone flying.
With the changes coming in November around online safety tests and changes in classifications I am wondering if I should wait and see what materialises, or plough on with the course and hope that any changes in November make an allowance or recognition for those that have the existing PfCO and license?

Obviously dont want to waste £££ unnecessarily but equally dont want to wait for no reason, when the changes might create an influx of people wanting to take the/a course. Keen to start earning from my MV2 Pro. Thanks for any advice. Rob

 

[zocalo]

I'm in the same boat, but for the sake of a few more months (the new system is supposed to go live in September and be mandatory by November) I've gone down the "wait and see" route. The EU's latest drone legislation that member states are required to introduce removes the distinction between commercial vs. recreational operators and, regardless of what transpires with Brexit, this seems to form the framework of what the Government/CAA is intending to implement as well. What that appears to mean that the requirement to have a PfCO before you can make money using your drone in the UK will go away.

Quite what that means in terms of existing PfCO holders is unclear, but it does seem highly likely that you'll need some kind of additional certification if you want to operate in close proximity to buildings, over crowds, within controlled airspace, and so on. When that might get introduced, or whether an existing PfCO will make acquiring any of those certifications easier is also unknown - the only things definitely due in September are the registration system and basic competency test.

So, I guess it depends on what you are planning to do, where you are planning to do it, and whether you have business opportunities lined up. If you can wait until September in the hope things will become at least a little clearer, that would seem to be the most prudent course of action right now.

If you want to do a bit more homework on all this, then some good starting points are the CAA's CAP publications (search for things like "drone" and "UAS") and the published evidence from the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee's ongoing drone enquiry.

 

[londondronepilot]

I found a good explanation here, How will the new EASA drone rules impact drone flying in the UK? | dronetraining.co.uk

 

[zocalo]

Quick update to the above, I've just been reading the latest minutes of the Commons Hearings, and Baroness Vere appears to confirm that the UK *will* be adopting the EU regulations. She comes at Q433, with the key bits on the EU regulations from Q480 onwards.

There's lots of other interesting stuff in there on registration (incl. the fee and the idea of a club-based registration), the law, proposed techology developments and more. If you're looking to build a business around drones, then it's definitely worth at least skimming through the whole thing IMO, and checking out the two previous hearing as well if you haven't already done so.

 

[Davidss]

Sept 13 2019. I have just posted, responding to a thread on an International sub-forum, but as it's relevant to the UK I'll copy it here.

I chased up the UK situation earlier this week, exchanging emails with relevant people.
Facts:
The relevant web site is Dronesafe.uk This is run by CAA & NATS.
The Registration page is here. It is the page to check for situation updates.
There is a CAA page on Drones, but their 'front door' is the Dronesafe site. The effective date is still set for 30th November 2019.

Detail.
I did raise a complaint about no acknowledgement to my enquiry to the CAA. This got an immediate response which included the phrase "We will actively publicise when the new system goes live".
The lengthy response I quote below came within 24 hours of my complaint, from which I conclude somebodies cage was rattled.

I was assured in an email from the CAA rep that:
... the system is built and ready – we’re currently finalising arrangements for the system with the Government (Department for Transport).

Our IT experts believe the system will cope with demand. Our website was recently used by over a million people in one day during the Thomas Cook repatriation exercise.

The knowledge necessary to pass the education element of the system is contained in the system itself.

If you are an owner / flier then you will be both an operator and a flier – so will be required to register and also undertake the educational element.

We undertook months of users testing with drone users from both the commercial and enthusiast sectors so are well aware of the different types of user. Many of us are also active in the drone community ourselves.

The system has been developed to cope with the many different types of commercial and enthusiast users. For example a large commercial organisation may have one accountable manager for their drone operation that does not fly drones and several drone pilots. In that case the accountable manager registers as the operator and the pilots would undertake the education package. Another example could be I let someone fly my drone. In which case I’m the responsible operator as the drone owner and they would need to undertake the education test.

Flyer registration lasts for 3 years, and is free.
Operator registration lasts for one year, a fee is payable, but hasn't been set, yet.
Drones will have to be marked with the Operators ID.
I also saw that an agreement had been reached between them that enforcement is in the hands of the Police not the CAA.
The Derbyshire Police (for example) already have a unit responsible for operating their Drones, this has been nominated as the local specialist enforcement section.

Opinion.
I do not have strong feelings that the date (30/11/2019) will be achieved, and I am extremely sarcastic about the management failure to have the system operational 7 weeks before the effective date.

Hope this helps.

 

[Manty]

I rang the CAA last week. They have no information and are waiting for the information from the Government. This they are expecting on 14 Oct. I would not hold your breath!

 

[Davidss]

You were correct not to hold your breath.
From another sub-forum post on this site.
CAA Registration and Training detail.

Free for a Flyer (after passing an Online exam), £9 per year for the Drone Owner (Operator).

Note the ‘Can’t register before 5th November’ but ‘Must Register by 30th November’.
So the time pressure is now on the user not on the Regulator.

Regards.

 

[zocalo]

You were correct not to hold your breath.
From another sub-forum post on this site.
CAA Registration and Training detail.

Free for a Flyer (after passing an Online exam), £9 per year for the Drone Owner (Operator).

Note the ‘Can’t register before 5th November’ but ‘Must Register by 30th November’.
So the time pressure is now on the user not on the Regulator.

Regards.

Register, register, on the 5th of November!

Assuming that the website doesn't crash and burn under the load of the early adopters and merely curious anyway, which would at least be somewhat apropos. Or maybe the choice of date is deliberate and ties into the public promotion of the need to register that's supposed to be happening as well?

 

[gnirtS]

The were making a big thing with the "huge" database and trying to justify the somewhat insane cost to administer it.
Then by their own admission, said 100-200,000 total people to use it.
This is actually a very small database with near no resources needed. Most small businesses and even single person enterprises operate databases significantly larger than this with almost no expense for hardware and infrastructure.

That said, government IT projects pretty much never work. Time and time again despite them KNOWING the numbers that will register way ahead of time they fail to provide the infrastructure for those numbers then just blame someone else. (The Wales/UK bus pass one last month for example, a known number of people with a known data and hopelessly ill-provisioned).