CASA changes legislation regarding UAVs

CASA, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority of Australia has finally announced the long awaited change to legislation governing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Australia. The previous legislation, CASR Part 101 was published in 2002. The UAV technology has come a long way since then, making the legislation well out of date.

In order to bring the regulations back in line with the current technology and industry requirements, CASA has made major changes and has published amendments to CASR Part 101. Part 101 2002 will be replaced with Part 101 2016 as of the 24th of September, 2016.

CASA now identifies UAVs below the weight of 2kg to be of lower impact and has relaxed the requirements to operate this class of UAVs. Operators of UAVs below the weight of 2kg will not be required to be in possession of a Controllers Certificate (license for the Pilot) and an Operators Certificate (for the business) to operate for hire or reward if certain conditions are met. The senseFly eBee and albris (previously eXom) are both part of this weight category.

Another significant change is to operators of UAVs below the weight of 25kg. Businesses will be able to operate their own UAVs below the weight of 25kg over land owned or occupied by them without the requirement to be in possession of a Controllers and Operators Certificate if certain conditions are met.

Please be aware that this is preliminary information and is subject to change. For further information, please see For a more detailed explanation of the changes, see this overview or the Legislation website.