New laws for commercial use of Drones under 2KG coming to Australia

Noel Evans

Noel Evans

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CASA, Australia's aviation authority are relaxing the laws on drones under 2kgs.

You can fly DJI Phantoms here with go pros for non commercial purposes as long as you adhere to a rule set. However, for commercial use you require certification. CASA is changing these rules now allowing drones under 2kg to be operated commercially without certification. Good news for DJI phantom 2 owners.

http://aerial.swarmuav.com.au/blog/under-2kg.-where-casas-proposed-changes-will-be-seen-first
 
Fascinating . . . I read the following (ignoring the "sight" typo in the article) with conclusion that they neglected to deal with the most important issue of all.

"
Under the changes, operators of the small commercial drones will be able to fly the devices without a certificate as long as they do so within certain parameters.

The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operators will need to fly the aircraft outside controlled airspace and restricted areas, be more than 5 km from the boundary of an airport, and maintain a direct line of site with the aircraft.

Operators will only be allowed to fly over non-populous areas, no less than 30m away from anyone else involved in operating the aircraft, and cannot fly the aircarft any more than 400ft above the ground, and fly during daylight hours only.

"

The above sounds confusing a) if there is no one else involved in operating the aircraft, presumably the 30m restriction does not apply and b) there seems to be no mention aside from 'non-populous" re whether it is OK to fly a drone over say one person who happens to be in the area (unless we interpret non-populous to mean absolutely no humans other than the operator and "other person(s) involved").

What worries me are not fines for violation of rules but rather a $10MM lawsuit in the USA resulting from a drone falling on someone. Will the operator's commercial videographer insurance cover such "accidents"?
 
More.. if we want to be sticky about it, it seems that if you do have "anyone else involved", you have to put the drone on the ground, walk 30m away and then only, engage liftoff and make sure thereafter that the drone stays 30 m away. That sort of rules out being on a small island and hoping to get your drone in the air. Has anyone seen a drone with pontoons?
 
kwkeirstead said:
More.. if we want to be sticky about it, it seems that if you do have "anyone else involved", you have to put the drone on the ground, walk 30m away and then only, engage liftoff and make sure thereafter that the drone stays 30 m away. That sort of rules out being on a small island and hoping to get your drone in the air. Has anyone seen a drone with pontoons?
Click to expand...

http://youtu.be/OleU6XNA-0s
 
Great sensible move in the right direction. As with anything anywhere, not just drones, if you injure someone there will be consequences. There will always be idiots, as there are with cars, boats, guns or drones and they will break any rules they feel like. I think registration of all drones with a small fee is sufficient - so if someone is being a jerk, they can have their registration noted, reported and fined.
 
Perhaps another useful idea would be that if you are flying commercially, you have two operators. One to fly, one to observe - I find that when I'm working if one is monitoring the FPV and conveying directions "track right, tilt up, drop down, etc" it's really helpful. Just an idea.
 
malibudutchie said:
I think registration of all drones with a small fee is sufficient - so if someone is being a jerk, they can have their registration noted, reported and fined.
Click to expand...

In addition I think insurance is a must and there could be a compulsory insurance built into the reg. fee.
 
Noel Evans said:
In addition I think insurance is a must and there could be a compulsory insurance built into the reg. fee.
Click to expand...

The problem, if I understand it correctly having to spoken to people more involved in the drone industry in Australia, is that there is currently only one or two insurance companies who offer insurance for drones but it costs a fortune for coverage.
With the danger involved I couldn't imagine flying them without insurance.
 
I visited Australia in 2004 and was amazed at how many activities had been ruined over liability concerns. Horseback in the Blue Mountains had been reduced to a $$$ activity in which participants must wear helmets and could only ride at a walking pace. Kayak rental? Had to be done in a guided group. I'm a pilot and had hoped to rent a plane, as I could pretty easily in most any U.S. state. Whoops, now I know better.
 
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