New Drone Regulations 2020

As of 31st December 2020, drone laws in the UK and Ireland will change, and yes, it is almost guaranteed to affect you. The new rules and regulations are a lot different from what we work with now.

One of the main changes is that there will be no difference in Commercial Operators and Hobby Operators, to an extent. The difference depends on what type of drone you’re using and what kind of flight you’ll be conducting. Again, we will break this down as best we can. We know this can get confusing or a little hard to follow so if you do have any questions or anything that your unsure about, feel free to reach out to us via our social media platforms or send an email to support@mydronepilot.co.uk and we will do our best to assist you.

Main Categories:

There will be three categories for using your drone, and those are:

Open: Drone operators who fly in the open category will have to abide by three main factors. These are:

1. The maximum take-off weight (or mass) of the UAV/ Drone must be less than 25kg.
2. The UAV/Drone must be operated within visual line of sight (VLOS);
3. The UAV/Drone must not be flown higher than 120 metres (400 feet);

All three of these factors must apply for an Open category use. If not, then you will need to operate under the Specific category instead.

Specific: Operations that present a greater risk than that of the Open category, but also not high enough risk to be under the Certified category. The critical point to this category is that it requires an Operational Authorisation being held by the UAV/Drone operator, which has been issued by the Civil Aviation Authority before you can operate.

Certified: Operations present the same level of risk to manned aviation and will be subject to the same regulatory regime (i.e. certification of the aircraft, certification of the operator, licensing of the pilot). This category is something that will be out of scope for most operators as it’ll be pretty specialised.

Subcategories
 

Sub Category A1 - Overflying People:

rones in this category are seen as very low risk. The drone must weigh less than 250 grams. Flights overhead people are allowed but not open-air assemblies. Drones with a weight of 500g or less may be flown in A1 under ‘Transitional’ rules, but may not deliberately 0fly overhead people, and the drone/UAV operator must hold an A2 CofC.

Sub Category A2 - Flying close to people:

Flying in subcategory A2 can only be conducted with C2 Class drone or a ‘legacy’ drone with a weight of under 2kg.  Drone/UAV Operators must hold an A2 Certificate of Competency. With a C2 drone flight may be within 30m of uninvolved people and 5m in slow flight mode. Legacy drones may fly within 50m of uninvolved people.

Sub Category A3 - Flying far away from people:

This category covers the more general types of Drone/UAV operations, including model aircraft with a weight of up to 25kg.

The intent is that the drone/UAV can be flown in areas that are clear of uninvolved persons. The drone/UAV will not be flown in areas that are used for residential, commercial, industrial or recreational purposes.

Qualifications
This section is basically about certifications “licences” and what you need to fly your drone (even for fun). In 99% of cases, you will need one of the following four to operate your drone legally:

1. Basic Drone Registration

So most drone/UAV users will have already registered their drone with either the CAA or the IAA.

You will need to do this if you are flying a drone with a that weighs over 250 grams.  There is a slight change to the registration scheme as from 31st December 2020 it will also be a requirement for a drone weighing under 250g  if they are either: –

• Equipped with a sensor that can capture personal data (i.e. a camera or ‘listening device’), unless it’s classified as a toy.
• If it is capable of transferring kinetic energy of more than 80 Joules to a human in the event of a collision (i.e. FPV drones that are small and light but can fly at very high speeds)

2. The A2 Certificate of Competence (A2 CofC)

My Drone Pilot members get the A2CofC included with their membership. The A2 CofC is a certification to show you are compliant and knowledgeable to an extent. You do get a certificate, and you do have to complete an exam. Drone Operators wishing to operate in the A2 subcategory are required to undertake this additional theoretical knowledge exam. The exam is for assessing knowledge of the technical and operational mitigations that address the added risks resulting from flying a slightly larger drone/UAV (class C2, below 4kg mass) close to people. Successful completion of this test results in the award of a ‘certificate of remote pilot competency’ for the A2 subcategory (‘A2 CofC’).

The Recognised Assessment Entities (RAE) will be responsible for delivering both the training and examination for the A2 CofC. The A2CofC is valid for five years, after which the exam will have to be retaken. If you fail the initial exam, you can retake it.

3. The General VLOS Certificate of Competence (GVC)

The GVC is the general VLOS (Visual Line of Sight. This requires you to take a course much like the current PfCO or SOP courses. This covers the competency requirements to be able to apply for an Operational Authorisation from the CAA to operate in the ‘’Specific’’ category. The GVC will require theory training and examination, an operations manual and a flight assessment. Following successful completion of the course, those who have done it will receive their GVC certificates and a recommendation.

New Drone Classes

Now we start talking about the things we love the most, drones. There will be five new classes of certified drones (C0, C1, C2, C3 and C4) which have to meet defined product standards. The different class of drones are to support safe operation in different scenarios.

Any commercially available drone sold after two years from the EU regulations coming into force will have to be certified in one of these classes.

The crazy thing is, these newly certified drones aren’t currently available (at the time we write this article of course). To allow existing ‘legacy’ or the current market drones to continue flying there are ‘transitional’ period and ‘transitional’ rules allowing flights in the new Open Category.

 

Class 0

• Can be flown in all subcategories
• Are very small, including toys.
• Weigh less than 250 grams.
• Have a maximum speed of 19m/s (approx. 42.5 mph)
• Not able to be flown over 400ft from the controller

Class 1 –

• Can be flown in all subcategories
• Are either less than 900g maximum in weight or are made and perform in a way that if they collide with a human head, the energy transmitted will be less than 80 Joules
• Have a maximum speed of 19m/s (approx. 42.5 mph)
• Designed and constructed to minimise injury to people
• The standards also cover other aspects such as noise limits, height limits and requirements for remote identification and geo-awareness systems.

Class 2 –

• Can be flown in subcategory A2 and A3
• Less than 4kg take-off weight  (MTOM)
• Designed and constructed to minimise injury to people
• It is equipped with a low-speed mode’ which limits the maximum speed to 3m/s (approx. 6.7 mph) when selected by the operator.
• The standards also cover other aspects such as noise limits (but different from C1), height limits and requirements for remote identification and geo-awareness systems, plus additional requirements if it is to be used during tethered flight.

Class 3 –

• Can be flown in subcategory A3
• Drones that possess automatic control modes (such as found in a typical drone ) which are less than 25kg maximum take-off mass
• The standards also cover other aspects covering height limits and requirements for remote identification and geo-awareness systems. There are also additional requirements if it is to be used during tethered flight, but there is no specified noise limit (because the aircraft is intended to be flown ‘far from people’).

Class 4 –

• Can be flown in subcategory A3
• Drones that Unmanned aircraft that do not possess any automation, other than basic flight stabilisation (and so are more representative of a ‘traditional’ model aircraft) which are less than 25kg maximum take-off mass

• The standards also cover other aspects covering height limits and requirements for remote identification and geo-awareness systems. There are also additional requirements if it is to be used during tethered flight, but there is no specified noise limit (because the aircraft is intended to be flown ‘far from people’).