It’s always good to speak at the Australian RPAS industry’s landmark event and I’d like to thank Greg and the Australian Association for Uncrewed Systems for once again inviting me.
We’ve had a few exciting developments in the RPAS sector since we last met. Anybody who watched the spectacular ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Capital Authority’s Drone SkyShow in Canberra was left in no doubt about how quickly this technology has become an exciting part of everyday life. Congratulations to Andrew and Sue and their team for putting on a great show.
Our teams have learnt much about how drone light shows work since CASA issued the first approval back in 2016. We have now issued more than 40 instruments for shows ranging from around 50 to over 600 drones – we are no longer issuing on a show-by-show basis, in fact most of the instruments now are for repeat shows.
2024 is shaping up to be a big year as we continue to engage with industry on existing and developing initiatives as well as our core job of overseeing Australian aviation safety.
One big initiative for 2024 was establishing a new unit in our RPAS Operations team to monitor and oversight complex RPAS regulatory service applications.
Another change has been in our executive leadership team with the addition of Steve Campbell as executive manager of ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Operations and Standards and Matt Bouttell as EM of our Regulatory Oversight Division.
They will round out what I believe will be a highly positive, collaborative and engaged executive leadership team.
RePLs versus conventional pilots
As anticipated at last year’s convention, Australia’s battle for aerial line honours has a new victor and I can reveal that holders of remote pilot licences now outnumber legacy pilots.
You are now the biggest pilot group in Australia with 33,388 members as of 20 February compared to 30,843 conventional pilots.
As recently as the middle of 2019, there were just 12,800 RePL holders. By June 30, 2021 – either despite or because of the COVID pandemic – that number had jumped to almost 22,000 and it has since soared by more than 50% to the numbers we see today.
The industry growth was underscored by the recently released report compiled for Airservices Australia, which I’m sure Pete will detail shortly, predicting drone flights will grow by 20% a year to 60 million annually by 2043.
And there seems no limit to the range of RPAS applications – from medical, food and goods deliveries to agriculture, mining and beach patrols.
In many areas, Australia continues to punch above its weight in this technology.
Recent examples include the first flight by an Australian-developed hydrogen fuel cell electric powered drone.
As our acting manager of RPAS Operations, Sharon Marshall-Keeffe, will explore in more detail how the use of drones is going from ‘novel to normal’ in many aspects.
What were unusual and innovative drone approvals a few short years ago – drone light shows are a good example – are now relatively routine.
Sharon will be outlining what you as an industry can do to support the transition to the ‘new normal’.
Our Emerging Technologies Program
Nobel laureate and novelist John Galsworthy once said if you don’t think about the future, you cannot have one.
Working together to ensure that future arrives is a responsibility shared by all of us – government, academia and industry.
Last year, we combined two of our initiatives – the Future Strategies Taskforce and the RPAS and Advanced Air Mobility Strategic Regulatory Roadmap – and placed them under our Emerging Technologies and Regulatory Change Branch currently run by David Thomas.
The ETRC Branch helps us prepare for new technologies and capabilities and looks at how we need to shape our business to address the challenges we’re facing from emerging technologies.
It also manages other RPAS activities, including the drone registration and accreditation scheme and the automated airspace authorisations trial, and is responsible for RPAS policy and regulation.
When we introduced the RPAS and Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Strategic Regulatory Roadmap in 2022 to outline our regulatory approach for the next 10 to 15 years, we promised it would continue to evolve.
Since launching the roadmap we’ve learnt a lot, which means we need to revisit some of the timeframes and the details. We’ll be working with industry to update the roadmap this year. We know you need as much accuracy as is possible to support your business.
Meanwhile, we’re taking a flexible approach to emerging technologies and accommodating new projects as they emerge.
One aspect of emerging aviation we’ve been examining involves providing a home for the new breed of operators – vertiports.
We now have a vertiport technical working group investigating future needs and challenges associated with these landing areas, including costs, viability, risks and controls.
We’re developing guidance material that builds on our published advisory circular on design standards for vertiports and we’re working on a draft AC for vertiport operations.
We will shortly release a guide for vertiports – designed to help those outside the aviation community, including planning authorities, councils and shopping centre owners, understand what they are and what to consider when designing, constructing or operating a vertiport.
An important aspect of all this, and perhaps the most complex challenge, is the concept of shared airspace.
We’re working with Airservices and the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts on developing high level UTM policy.
Planning is key, so we need the RPAS and AAM industry to tell us where they see the sector heading and to help us determine the regulatory advances we need to undertake. And forums like this event help!
Automated airspace and building on SORA
Our automated airspace trial, as you know, drastically cuts the time it takes to apply for an authorisation from days to hours.
It works alongside our CASA-verified drone apps, which play a pivotal role in enhancing airspace safety by providing remote pilots with relevant aeronautical information and tools to ensure compliance with our regulations.
This is a win-win situation because it also alleviates strain on CASA and Airservices resources via automation without a reduction in safety standards.
The trial operates at 4 of 28 Airservices controlled airports – Adelaide, Sydney, Canberra and Perth. It was extended for 12 months in November and like you we’re keen to see this automated approach extend further.
The logic speaks for itself. We issued more than 1260 automated authorisations between May 2021 and February this year, which we estimated will have saved businesses more than $1 million.
Australia has been a leader in approving RPAS for use in BVLOS operations.
This has been possible due to CASA’s use of the SORA methodology.
SORA provides a structured approach for assessing and mitigating risks associated with RPAS operations and we see a continued role for its use in approving higher-risk RPAS operations.
As many of you are aware, an updated version (version 2.5) of the SORA methodology is currently under development.
CASA has played a significant role in the development of SORA and we continue to be actively involved to ensure it remains suitable for use in Australia.
