[Peetwo]

Amended CASR 101 D-DAY finally arrives -  

New UAV regulations, a lawyers banquet -

Reference - 'Closing the safety loop' thread:

CAsA & ATsB out of the loop on RPA/UAV safety -

Remember this??

Australia leads the way in drone regulation
21 September 2016 Lara Bullock

New drone regulations, to be introduced by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority next week, will impact lawyers in a wide array of practice areas, including insurance, intellectual property and privacy.

The regulator for the use of aircraft in Australia, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), has developed new drone regulations, which will take effect on 29 September...

 

Of hungry lawyers.

There has been much media coverage in recent days in the lead up to today's official promulgation of amended UAV/RPA CASR Part 101...

1st example via the ABC:

New drone laws 'could lead to mid-air collisions', pilots and air traffic controllers warn
By political reporter Alexandra Beech
Updated yesterday at 1:49pmWed 28 Sep 2016, 1:49pm

Photo: The new laws are aimed to cut the cost and red tape around operating drones that weigh less than two kilograms. (ABC News: Giulio Saggin)

Pilots and air traffic controllers have called for new regulations over the use of drones to be scrapped, warning they could lead to catastrophic mid-air collisions.
The new laws are aimed to cut the cost and red tape around operating drones that weigh less than two kilograms.

The changes will come into effect from tomorrow.

Under the new legislation, small commercial drone operators would not have to pay the current $1,400 in regulatory fees and landholders could operate drones of up to 25 kilograms on their properties without the need for approvals.

Aviation special counsel for Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, Joseph Wheeler, said the move towards deregulation would significantly increase the risk of a crash between a drone and a plane or a helicopter.

Photo: Aviation Lawyer Joseph Wheeler warns that drone deregulation would "raise collision risk". (ABC News: David McMeekin)

He called on the Senate to disallow the legislation at its next sitting and flagged a possible High Court appeal if the laws were not amended.

"If we had greater safeguards to enforce the regulations when things go wrong, that would go a long way towards ensuring with the injuries that inevitably would happen, the ability for people on the ground who are injured to access compensation," he said.

"At the moment, someone could be injured by a drone on the ground with no ability to identify the owner of that drone.

"They have absolutely no capacity to access any insurance or access any compensation for their losses."

'Potential of impact fire' with drone

Australian Federation of Air Pilots president David Booth said rogue drones flying near Australia's airports were a growing concern.

"Sydney Airport in the last four weeks have shut down their airspace or had issues with their airspace on two occasions," Captain Booth said.

"I've been airborne at 12,000 feet over the Hawkesbury River to have air traffic control tell me, flying a 737: 'Hazard alert, unidentified drone flight level 120 in your vicinity'.

"I'll tell you right now, it's not a nice feeling knowing that this drone is in your airspace."

Captain Booth said drones could cause a huge amount of damage if they hit a helicopter's tail rotor or flew into a plane's engine.

"Birds are soft, they might destroy the engine, but with a drone there is the potential of impact fire and they're reinforced with kevlar composite," he said.

"Two kilos at 250 kilometres an hour, or potentially 400 kilometres an hour — there's a lot of energy in that impact."

Drone wars: The definition dogfight

What exactly is a drone? It is a deceptively simple question with a highly contentious answer, writes Mark Corcoran.

But Civil Aviation Safety Authority spokesman Peter Gibson said there was a system in place to mitigate the risks.

"We looked at the risks from the various size of drones and we worked out that the safety risks of these very small drones can be managed through a set of standard operating conditions, a notification system and by marking the drones with an identification number," Mr Gibson said.

"It's certainly not a drone free-for-all."

Mr Gibson said penalties of up to $9,000 could be issued for breaches of the regulations.
CASA said there was also a requirement for operators to complete an online notification process so the authority had a record of operators' details.

Next example gets, an obviously Murky prepared, comment from the NFI miniscule Dazzling Dazza's office and a simply hilarious ( ) comment from CASA mouthpiece Pinocchio Gobson: 

• September 28 2016 - 6:38PM
  

'It may be catastrophic': Pilots issue stark warning over relaxed drone laws

• [/url]Michael Koziol
  
  

The Turnbull government has rejected a call from pilots to overturn a relaxation of regulations on unmanned drones, despite warnings they risk catastrophic collisions with commercial aircraft and helicopters.

The liberalised laws, set by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, allow anyone to fly lightweight, remotely-controlled drones without a licence - even for commercial purposes - in a bid to "cut red tape".
   

Video duration01:24

New drone rules to cut red tape

Drone flying will become a bit easier from 29th September as the Civil Aviation Safety Authority relaxes the rules, but could that bring new dangers?

Such operators would still need to abide by rules such as keeping the drone below an altitude of 120 metres, within their line of sight and a minimum of 5.5 kilometres away from major airports.

But the Australian Federation of Air Pilots, led by Virgin Australia captain David Booth, has warned the relaxed system is too permissive and will encourage unlicensed drone operators to "fly anywhere".

Sky battles: A drone flies over Bondi Icebergs. Photo: Dallas Kilponen

"These rogue drone operators, they're ambitious," Mr Booth said. "They get their drone and they say to themselves, clearly: 'How high will this thing go'?"

Even small drones under two kilograms, to which the new regulations apply, can reach heights of up to 4000 feet and interfere with commercial flight paths.

Mr Booth said ingestion of a small drone into a jet engine could lead to engine failure or even fire, while collision with a helicopter propeller "may well be catastrophic".

But a spokeswoman for Transport Minister Darren Chester said the government would not disallow the regulations and said existing penalties of up to $9000 were sufficient.

Flying a drone at a park in Dover Heights in Sydney. Photo: Dallas Kilponen

In no way do the new regulations alter, amend or water down existing operating rules," she said. "Any claim that these changes will encourage 'rogue' drone operations is unfounded."

CASA spokesman Peter Gibson said the safety risks posed by very small drones "could be managed" and stressed there were no changes to existing rules about where drones could fly.

"It's certainly not a drone free-for-all," he said. He conceded pilots' concerns were legitimate but noted the same dangers existed under the status quo.

"We've got to balance that with cutting the red tape, cutting the regulatory costs so people can easily get into the drone industry if that's what they choose to do," Mr Gibson said.

As well as a recreational activity, drones are used by Australian businesses in conducting difficult and remote activities, including on mines, bridges and farms.

The CASA changes would also assist farmers to fly drones up to 25 kilograms on their own properties without the need for a commercial licence.

But the increasing presence of drones in our skies means a heightened risk of interference with commercial aircraft operations.

Airservices Australia confirmed there had been three drone-related incidents in Sydney airspace in recent weeks. Last Monday, a large drone was spotted by an incoming pilot within 100 metres of the aircraft, prompting authorities to shut down runway 16R for an hour and divert incoming planes to another runway.

Mr Booth, a 737 captain, also told of having to divert his plane while over the Hawkesbury river. "It's not a nice feeling knowing that this drone is in your airspace," he said.
In Canberra on Wednesday, Mr Booth led a delegation including Civil Air Australia and Australian Certified UAV Operators who demanded the government disallow the regulations when Parliament resumes.

Joseph Wheeler, aviation special counsel at Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, said the groups would consider a High Court challenge if the laws were not scrapped.

Update: Joseph Wheeler via the Oz today

Relaxing drone regulations makes national skies more dangerous

• Joseph Wheeler
  
• The Australian
  
• 12:00AM September 30, 2016
  

[url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/aviation/relaxing-drone-regulations-makes-national-skies-more-dangerous/news-story/e373fb9085db62e0ebb1122d5d898555#comments]
Australia’s position in aviation safety has officially taken one step — some would say several steps — backwards in the past 24 hours through amendments to relax drone regulations.

These changes mean almost anyone can enter the world of commercial drone operation as long as they stay within certain airspace boundaries and heights, and avoid “controlled” aerodromes, but how will they appreciate the restrictions and comply with them when there is no training required?

Aviators and those who practically and silently assure the safety of Australian air passengers each and every day, whether they be domestic or international, are fed up.

It is one thing to cheekily fly a little above the 400-foot (legal maximum height) ceiling in one’s own back yard, where the danger remains isolated to your own property and family. It is quite another to power up your vehicle to push upwards of 4000ft above ground level a few kilometres along the approach path to the runways of Australia’s major international airports in cloud.

Make no mistake: these things are happening now, and they have been on an alarmingly more frequent basis since the Civil Aviation Safety Authority promulgated the drone amendment regulations in March that came into effect yesterday. Put simply, it seems as if certain operators, who never intended to follow rules, decided that the new CASA legislation was their ticket to a kind of freedom of the skies that is wholly incompatible with common sense and safety.

The problem with opening up commercial drone operations of even “very small” (under 2kg) drones is that without appropriate forethought and an understanding of why drone operators misuse drones, one cannot instil the requisite level of social responsibility into them.

Rigorous standards of risk mitigation are ingrained into operators through aviation training. In short, certified remote pilots come to respect their abilities and their own and their vehicles’ shortcomings and practical limitations, and are equipped to prevent accidents.

The untrained child who can now make pocket money on the internet doing video pranks and dares with dangerous equipment that has the capacity to bring down your average Melbourne to Sydney flight does not. It takes good law and education to foster that.

Decision-makers in the Senate have been briefed on all sides of this policy question and there remain four sitting days for a stand to be made by way of disallowance to repeal this problematic legislation before too many take advantage of its leniency and the confusing and illogical patchwork of non-legally binding guidance material that has sprung up in the past few weeks to try to explain the inadequate law.

Can you read a VTC chart, identify an RA3 area using ERSA or identify exclusion zones for the HLS instrument approach for YWST? The CASA guidance implies you should, but there is no legal requirement that you be trained to know those terms.

Therefore, CASA has no way of figuring out if your failure to gain such aeronautical knowledge presents a danger until your shiny new Christmas present drone strays into dangerous airspace trafficked by professional pilots and causes a safety issue.

Now, in the week this law comes into force, even more organisations have come forward to stand in support of Australia’s foundational commercial drone operators association, Australian Certified UAV Operators, in rolling back the laws.

The Australian Federation of Air Pilots, Australia’s largest professional pilot association and union, together with Civil Air Australia, Australia’s professional association and union of air traffic controllers, have stood side-by-side in denouncing the new laws and in supporting their repeal because of the way they jeopardise safety.

Members of both organisations are aware of frightening unexpected encounters with drones and civil passenger jets and helicopters in Australia.

When they talk, we should listen. Enough is enough.

Joseph Wheeler is the principal of International Aerospace Law & Policy Group, aviation legal counsel to the Australian Federation of Air Pilots and special counsel (aviation) to Maurice Blackburn Lawyers. He acts for Australian Certified UAV Operators in its pursuit of disallowance.