In this video, the last of three videos on drone rules and regulations in South-Africa, we will keep our focus on 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:
- How companies should select a drone service provider and what to ask for.
- consequences of making use of Illegal drone operators.
- How to report Illegal drone operators 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
To report Illegal drone pilot/operators visit any one of the following websites and get in touch: https://www.caasa.co.za/cuaasa/ or https://www.safuas.co.za/
We would like to thank Percy Rudman Snr and his amazing team at Eagle Air - PTYLtd at Wonderboom National Airport for making their facilities available for us to record our videos. http://www.eagleair.co.za
Ruben Delmage
Hi guys, Ruben here from Aerial Drone Solutions. So last time we spoke about the regulatory requirements regarding commercial operations of drones and unmanned aircraft in South Africa, and this week we'll be educating the companies specifically and also the general public on making use of commercial drone pilots and companies in South Africa. And I've got the expert here again this morning. We've got Dean Polley from CUAASA, also known as the Commercial Unmanned Aircraft Association of South Africa to tell us a little bit more. So Dean, on this episode, we would like to educate the companies and also the public on making use of commercial drone companies or pilots for commercial gain. What are the some of the stuff that the companies needs to look out for and maybe ask before deciding on which company to hire for the commercial OPS?
Dean Polley
The very first thing that you need to establish is the person who's representing the service to be presented is representing a company that holds an ROC or remote operating certificate, that's number one. So they need to, they need to ask for a copy of the ROC. And they also need to check the validity date, because I think they're only valid for a year or two years, and then they have to be renewed. So they're going to check that it's valid, and then need to ask for a copy of the Air Services License. And then they need to request what drone is going to be flown. And they need a copy of the RLA. And then lastly, the person that's going to be operating the drone needs to give them a copy of the RPL.
Ruben Delmage
And that's very important for you to make note of so as a company, please make sure that you ask these questions before you even request a quotation from a drone company to make sure that you've got all the certifications and all the licensing in place before even making use of this commercial company. So let's say for instance, that as a drone pilot that is not licensed that does not have an ROC, they come out and they quote a company, for instance to do a commercial operation. What can happen to that drone pilot? If he's not licensed?
Dean Polley
Well, he'll be operating illegally. So according to regulations, he can be subject to a fine of R50,000 or he can face prison time. Now that is if he gets caught. The other thing that seriously needs to be considered as if something goes wrong. What if the drone crashes into a vehicle traveling on a road and it causes an accident and the worst case scenario it causes the death of somebody or it flies into controlled airspace and it brings down an aircraft, well, then you not only are you going to be hammered, as far as the regulations are concerned, you're going to face civil damages, which could run into the millions or you could face charges like culpable homicide, which is even more serious, which could land you in some serious jail time.
Ruben Delmage
And I think what people might not know, especially if they just go out and purchase a drone for the first time, let's speak about because you mentioned earlier that let's say you fly into controlled airspace, and a drone gets what they call a fly away. Not everybody knows about that. Maybe just explain briefly on that. What is a flyaway?
Dean Polley
So a lot of these drones that come into the country are manufactured in China, in other parts of the world. And they have been calibrated according to the GPS locations in those geographical regions. So when they come into South Africa, usually they need to be recalibrated. And if they not, the system, if I could put it in a very simple term is it gets confused. So if it initiate a return to home, it's not necessarily the place we took off. It could be Hong Kong, and what it's doing is now flying to predetermine GPS location that may be stored in his memory. Or it just gets confused and it just takes off and flies in direction. So that's typically some of the reasons of how you'd get a fly away.
Ruben Delmage
And that's where the a lot of trouble can come in and that’s where liability insurance comes in.
Dean Polley
Then you've got no control over where that aircraft is going. Depending on where it is, if it's in built-up areas, when it eventually runs out of battery is going to crash. Or it will do a controlled landing. In other cases, at least it's not gonna fly too far. You're looking at a maximum of sort of 25 minutes flight-time.
Ruben Delmage
Dean, let's say for is off, I've heard a lot of people saying, it doesn't matter. I'm going to buy drone, they'll never catch me. How will they possibly catch me? What do you make of that?
Dean Polley
I think it's a rather irresponsible attitude to have and it's the same as saying, you know, I'm going to buy a car, and I'm not going to license it. Or I'm going to get on the highway and I'm going to say If I can push it to 200 kilometers an hour, where you get caught, there's a big chance that you won't if you get caught, there's going to be severe consequences.
Ruben Delmage
So Dean earlier we spoke about illegal pilots and what can happen to them possibly if they get caught flying for commercial gain illegally without being licensed. Let's say a company makes use of an illegal drone pilot or an illegal drone operator or business, what can happen to the company hiring these illegal pilots or drone companies?
Dean Polley
In simplistic terms, if they hire somebody to do an illegal operation, they complete the operation and nothing happens, nothing will happen. So there can't be any sort of law enforcement against the company that's hired the drone operator. However, if illegal operation is taking place, because the company is hired that pilot or a company that is standing as ROC holder and again, when something happens, and it causes it causes an accident or death or whatever they're going to be party to that whole illegal operation. So if you think about if it's a large company, and there’s legal action that's going to be taken against the company, they're obviously going to bring in attorneys. And they're going to argue the merits of the case on a case by case basis. They could plead ignorance that they honestly didn't know that it was an illegal operation. But there are going to be legal consequences to that.
Ruben Delmage
In terms of reporting, illegal drone operation or a drone pilot, how does that get done?
Dean Polley
So there is a there's a formal process to report illegal drone operations to CIA directly at CUASSA, we've started to take on reports from the general public as well. So we record that and we pass that on to CAA as well. This is another organization called SAFU, the South African Federation of Unmanned Systems. And I think that also make provision for the reporting of illegal operations.
Ruben Delmage
Right. And we'll make all of those links available in the link below. So be sure to check that out as well. Lastly, do I think we would like to ask about more regulations specifically commercially in South Africa? Where can people find out more info on that?
Dean Polley
So the number one place to go to is the Civil Aviation Authority website. Download Part 101 regulations read through them carefully. Also, you can contact CUAASA through their email address at info@cuassa.org and the link is at the bottom, or you can go to the website cuaasa.org.
Ruben Delmage
That's it for this week. We'll be back next time. Cheers.