--
SA drafts RPAS regulations --
Mon, 09 Mar 2015 09:46
--
The process of drafting regulations for Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) has now been completed by the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) and draft regulations have been submitted to the Minister of Transport for consideration and subsequent approval, if the Minister is in agreement. However, until the regulations are approved, the use of RPAS in terms of existing legislation remains illegal. The Civil Aviation Regulations prescribe requirements for operating any aircraft in the South African airspace. To date, no RPAS have been able to comply with these requirements. Remotely Piloted Aircraft are aircraft that can fly without a pilot on board. These aircraft come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and can be controlled remotely by an individual on the ground, from another aircraft.
The SACAA, as the regulator, in fulfilling its mandate in terms of section 72 of the Civil Aviation Act, 2009 (Act No 13 of 2009), with specific reference to the control and regulation of civil aviation safety and security, is obligated to put regulations in place for dealing with all the regulatory facets applicable to the operation of RPAS.
The SACAA is one of the very first entities globally to make headway in terms of developing comprehensive regulations. This demonstrates the Regulator s ability to respond to an urgent need from the industry, and also shows our commitment in ensuring that the regulations are in place as soon as possible, as this is the only way we can ensure that RPAS operate safely, said Poppy Khoza, director of Civil Aviation.
RPAS represent a relatively new component of the civil aviation framework, one which the SACAA, together with other regulators worldwide and under the guidance of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), are working to understand, define and ultimately integrate into the civil aviation sector. As such, the process of developing policies, procedures, regulations and associated standards in order to certify and subsequently authorise the operation of RPAS is moving with speed, but also needs to be handled with care as failure to ensure this will have devastating consequences, including loss of life, Khoza explained.
As an ICAO member state, South Africa is actively involved in the ICAO RPAS Panel which aims to develop standards to guide contracting States in the development of their national regulations. In addition, the SACAA has worked closely with international working groups, the national industry and relevant agencies to develop the pending regulations. The draft regulations were published for comment in December 2014/Jan 2015 for a period of 30 days, as dictated by the consultation guidelines.
Many factors were considered in the process of developing the regulations for authorisation. As much as we are enthusiastic about the integration of RPAS into the civilian airspace, we need to be mindful of various security and safety aspects. Key among these is that the technology installed on RPAS is able to ensure that, amongst others, mid-air collisions and incidents are minimised. There is also the need to make sure that the allocated frequency spectrum is secure, in order to ensure protection from unintentional or unlawful interference with the RPAS, Khoza elaborated.
The SACAA has been receiving reports that there are individuals and/or organisations that are already operating or intending to operate RPAS in the South African civil aviation airspace without approval.
Those that are operating any type of RPAS are doing so illegally; and as the regulator we cannot condone nor tolerate any form of blatant disregard of the applicable rules. SACAA is investigating reports received lately and shall pursue those who are illegally operating RPAS without any authorisation, said the Director.
The approval and subsequent implementation of the new RPAS regulations in South Africa will in no way be a conclusive process. The Authority anticipates rapid changes in the very near future, as this is a new phenomenon in the civilian airspace and as such, as this facet of the industry evolves; we will adjust the regulations as dictated by the prevailing circumstances at any given time. The SACAA will still work in collaboration with ICAO and its member states, towards providing a regulatory framework through Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs), with supporting Procedures for Air Navigation Services (PANS) and guidance material, to underpin the routine operation of RPAS in a safe, harmonised and seamless manner, comparable to that of manned operations.
Related Articles
Hot Docs announces films in 2015 Special Presentations programHot Docs has announced 17 documentary features that will be a part of this year s Special Presentations program...
Read more...
NAB Show to feature new aerial robotics and drone pavilionThe 2015 NAB Show will feature a new aerial robotics and drone pavilion, presented by Drone Media Group in partnership with NAB Show...
Read more...
Hood tackles Eye in the Sky By Acclaimed South African director Gavin Hood was in Cape Town recently when filming began on the international Entertainment One and Raindog Films thriller Eye in the Sky starring Helen Mirren, Aaron Paul and Colin Firth...
Read more...
Local surfing films selected for 11th Wavescape Film FestivalThe 11th Wavescape Film Festival taking place from 6 to 14 December 2014 featured a line-up of top surfing films...
Read more...
-- --
-- --
-- Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. comments powered by Disqus
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
-- 
