The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has issued a Notice of Proposed Amendment (NPA) is to maintain a high level of safety for unmanned aircraft system (UAS) operations in the ‘open’ and ‘specific’ categories. NPA 2021-09 is open for consultation until 15 September 2021.
This NPA proposes to amend some of the existing, and introduce new, acceptable means of compliance (AMC) and guidance material (GM) to Regulation (EU) 2019/947 on the rules and procedures for the operation of UASs, as follows:
- New AMC and GM for the definition of ‘geographical zones’;
- revised forms for the application and issue of operational authorisations in the ‘specific’ category;
- new AMC defining the procedure to be applied by UAS operators and the competent authorities for cross-border operations, including the related forms;
- new AMC and GM for the standard scenarios (STSs);
- new AMC to comply with the mitigations requirements and meet the operational safety objectives (OSOs) that are defined in the specific operations risk assessment (SORA);
- new AMC that provide the syllabus for training modules for remote pilots that operate in the ‘specific’ category; and
- revision of the AMC following feedback received from national aviation authorities (NAAs) and UAS operators.
In particular, the AMC and GM for the geographical zones are the outcome of the UAS Geographical Zones Task Force (TF) which was established based on the input of the MAB providing procedures and guidelines for Member States (MSs) to create zones in order to protect areas where the safety, security or privacy risk is higher.
Both the amended and the new AMC and GM are expected to maintain safety as regards UAS operations in the ‘open’ and ‘specific’ categories, and increase the harmonisation of UAS operations across the European Union by providing a consistent and correct interpretation of the regulatory material.
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