In this video, the second of three videos on drone rules and regulations in South-Africa, we will shift our focus more towards the commercial operation of drones in SA. What does the South African Civil Aviation Authority - SACAA regulations say about commercial flying in SA? Our guest is Dean Polley from Commercial Unmanned Aircraft Association of Southern Africa to answer a few questions such as:
- What is a RPL
- What is a ROC
- The process to start flying commercially etc.
All these and more will be answered right here. Aerial Drone Solutions: http://www.aerialdronesolutions.co.za
SACAA drone regulations (part 101): http://www.caa.co.za/Documents/RPAS/P...
Commercial Unmanned Aircraft Association of South Africa: https://www.caasa.co.za
We would like to thank Percy Rudman Snr and his amazing team at Eagle Air - PTYLtd based at Wonderboom National Airport for making their facilities available for us to record our videos. http://www.eagleair.co.za
Ruben Delmage
Hi guys, my name is Ruben Delmage from Aerial Drone Solutions and last time we spoke about the recreational flying or hobby flying of drones in South Africa. And in this episode, we'll be focusing on the commercial side of drones in South Africa, specifically relating to licensing and the certifications of drone regulations in South Africa. And we've got the expert here this morning. His name is Dean Polley from CUAASA, also known as the commercial unmanned aircraft association of South Africa to tell us a little bit more. Dean, Good day, are you well.
Dean Polley
Morning Ruben, and thank you for inviting me back on your show.
Ruben Delmage
So the last time we spoke about recreational and also hobby flying of drones in South Africa. But let's dive into the commercial side of drones in South Africa and let's start off with the licensing. Tell us a little bit more about the license and RPL. What exactly is an RPL?
Dean Polley
So an RPL is the equivalent of a PPL. There is a formal curriculum that stands for remote pilot license. So to license that you do in order to legally fly a drone, or an unmanned system for commercial gain.
Ruben Delmage
So let's say I've done my RPL. And I've got my drone license, I've gone through the whole thing, the whole the theory as well as the practical. Can I now go out and fly commercially in South Africa.
Dean Polley
So strictly speaking, no, just having an RPL on its own is not going to enable you to do that. You need to operate within a company that's the holder of what's called an ROC RPAS operating certificate. That’s the equivalent of an AOC in manned aviation. So an aircraft operating certificate. So you need to have a formal company established. You need to apply for a services license with a services licensing counsel from the Department of transport. And then once you've got your ASL you can then apply for an ROC. And that's quite a long and complex process. So you need the ROC. The pilot that then operates the drone needs to have an RPL. But you need to operate under with under an operating company that has got an ROC.
Ruben Delmage
Exactly. And that is also not all. You mentioned earlier, that RPL is pretty much equivalent to or very close to a PPL. And I do believe you need to go through the medical you need to do your restricted radio maybe just elaborate on on that.
Dean Polley
So yeah, so the RPL curriculum, is it's about a week of theory and you go through pretty much what you'd go through for a PPL, you need to do a restricted radio license. You need to do an English proficiency test. You need to get a class three medical certificate. You do air law. You do things like climate and weather. So it's it's quite comprehensive. And then from there you do, I think it's about another week of actual practical flying.
Ruben Delmage
Yeah. And also what you also need to do further on when you've got the RPL. You've got your ROC in place, you've got your restricted radio, you've got your medical in place, there's still a lot of stuff that needs to get bought in it you need to use for your commercial operations. I'm thinking about stuff like your fire extinguisher, you'll need to have cones to mark off and all that stuff. And that's very important for commercial operations in South Africa.
Dean Polley
Correct. So, one of the key documents that are ROC would have is an ops spec, and an ops spec it will describe the nature of the operations and the equipment that is required. The equipment is required to operate is quite standard and that's actually listed in Part 101, so you can go and see what is needed. Reflected jackets, cones, cordoned off areas, fire extinguishers etc. The other thing that ROC holder needs to hold is a third party liability insurance that needs to be in place as well. And then the last thing which is also very important is every single drone or aircraft that is to be operated under an ROC needs to have what's called an RLA .The RLA is really the air worthiness of the aircraft and that is a letter of approval that's issued from the Civil Aviation Authority.
Ruben Delmage
And that's also important for the people making use of commercial pilots, please make sure that the drone has been RLA’d and the way you can see that is, the drone will have what's called a Zulu Tango registration number on the drone itself, so make sure that you check out for that as well. Lastly, Dean just before you wrap up, I think it's also important to make mention of even though you've got your RPL and also your RLA’d drone and also the ROC you need to have what's called controlled airspace on your radio as well to be able to fly in controlled airspace.
Dean Polley
So yes, the flying of a drone and controlled airspace is very clearly defined as well in the regulations. Currently, you need to have your drone fitted with a transponder. And it needs to be at least a mode c slash Mode S transponder. The new transponders that on the market today is also kind of conforming to the new ADSB standard. And then you need to put a what's called a camu application in, so a camu that's with ATNS it's a central airspace management application. So it's a standard form that you get from them. And you pretty much define the parameters of your operation, and the stakeholders will review it and sign it off. It typically takes about two days to get something done
Ruben Delmage
And very important. You need to have communication with the tower, either via telephone or like we with the VHF radio radio, and you need to have that clearly stipulated on your ops spec as well, they are allowed to do that. And again, all the info will be available on the CAA website. You're more than welcome to click on the link below. We'll have everything available there for you. Dean, thank you. That's it for this episode, we’ll will be back on the next episode and we'll focus a little bit more about what can happen to you. If you make use as a company make use of an illegal drone pilot. What is the regulations say about that and the laws in South Africa state about that.